The Santa Barbara Bombings
by koolkat1203
Summary: Twenty Years ago Henry Spencer went through one of the most talked about crimes in Santa Barbra's history- a series of bombings all over the town. Now twenty years after the case was closed the bombings have started again and whoever's doing them seems to know a lot about the Spencers. Can they find out who's doing it or will they fall victim to the mysterious bomber?
1. Chapter 1

Fall 1992

Heat…flames…sirens going off…Henry looked around in disbelief at what was before him. He had been working on the Santa Barbara bomber case for 6 months now and what he was seeing before him was the bitter end to the previous grueling months he had been enduring. Joe Martin, aka The Santa Barbara Bomber, had been going around and setting bombs off in various locations around town with no rhyme or reason that they could come up with. A few hours prior they had gotten word of Joe's whereabouts and managed to get there right as the building he was in exploded into the night sky. After a few hours and confirmation that Joe's body was inside, Henry felt a bittersweet feeling coming upon him. While he was glad that he wouldn't be able to take anymore lives with his random bombings, he couldn't help but feel disappointed at the fact that he wouldn't be able get the satisfaction of asking him why he did this and getting the satisfaction from watching a cold blooded murder rot in a jail cell for the rest of his days.

"Well I guess that's that," one of the police officers stated as they walked up to Henry.

"Yeah well, forgive me if I don't start dancing," Henry said, walking away.

"Aw come on, Henry I know you wanted to catch him but at least he can't hurt anyone anymore."

Henry suddenly stopped and turned around. "Yeah I know, John, but doesn't it strike you as odd that he's done over thirty bombings and hasn't been around to watch any of them happen, and now all of sudden he "accidentally" killed himself in this last one? It just doesn't make sense. Not to mention he loved taunting us and sending us clues so we could try to figure out where the next bombing was going to be and we got absolutely no clues for this one. I don't know this just all seems too weird to me."

John sighed and put a comforting hand on Henry's shoulder. "Look, I know this isn't the ideal ending that you wanted for this case but we're just going to have to accept it. Maybe this was his plan all along. You know, killing himself and not leaving any clues as to why just so he could torture us from beyond the grave. Come on now, it's been a long six months and now this nightmare is over. We can sleep better now and so can the people of Santa Barbara. I got things here, Henry, why don't you take a much needed night off and spend it with your family? They've hardly gotten to see you these past few months. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to have you back."

Henry sighed. "Yeah I suppose. Let's just hope nothing like this ever happens in this town again…."

Present Day

"And that, my friends, is who did it!"

It was a beautiful fall day in Santa Barbara as Shawn was once again giving his long explanation as to who the culprit was on one of their recent crimes. There had been a string of bank robberies around town for the past month and after doing his "psychic" thing, Shawn finally nailed who had done it- one of the regular bank customers of a certain string of banks who had been denied a loan to start up his own business. So he thought he'd take things into his own hands by robbing not only them, but most of the banks in the area so as not to raise suspicion on himself. He however, didn't know about Shawn, for if he had he might have thank twice before hatching his little plot.

As Lassie took him away in cuffs, a grinning Juliet approached her husband and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "Good job, Mr. Spencer."

"Why thank you Mrs. Spencer," Shawn replied, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Maybe you can show me a little of that appreciation tonight."

"Mmmm, well I do have this new lacy nighty that I just purchased. Maybe I can model it for you," she said, giving him a kiss.

"Sounds good. But it may be off longer than it's on…"

Juliet giggled as they both kissed each other, not realizing they had an audience around them.

"Uhhhh, ya know, I should get back to the station. I've gotta do my final reports," Juliet stated.

"Okay but these lips and more will be waiting for you tonight, my love," Shawn said as he gave her a final kiss on her hand.

Juliet smiled as she started to walk away. "Can't wait."

"Oh geeze, I think I'm gonna be sick," Lassie said as Juliet approached him. "Just how long is this newly wed lovey dovey stuff gonna be going on for anyway?"

"Oh Carlton, come on can't you just be happy for us for once? I know you and Shawn may not see eye to eye all of the time, but he's my husband now and I love him more than anything in this world so you're gonna have to accept that," Juliet replied.

"Yeah well, don't expect it to happen anytime soon."

"Oh come on, I know deep down you both must like each other. I mean he's saved you from getting into trouble a few times and you've saved his life quite a few times. Now why would you do that for each other if you didn't like one another?"

"I do it cause you and the Chief make me," he replied as he got in the car.

Juliet sighed and rolled her eyes. The day her husband and her partner got along was the day when hell froze over. "So glad things are working out," she said sarcastically, as she got in the car with him.

"Shawn! What the heck's going on?! I thought we were supposed to go scuba diving?" Gus said as he approached Shawn, wearing a very fit snorkeling outfit.

"Dude, have you looked in a mirror?" Shawn said, looking him up and down.

"Hey, I'm wearing the proper scuba diving gear, Shawn! And I came straight from the beach to here!"

"Wow, I can't believe you actually thought I was serious about doing that," Shawn replied with a smile on his face.

Gus looked taken aback. "Wh- What the hell are you talking about, Shawn?! Are you meaning to tell me that you never planned on doing that with me?!"

"And look like a creepy aqua man? No thanks, man!"

"I'm gonna kill you, Shawn!"

"Gus, come on lighten up. I was just getting ready to go get a chilly dog and watch 'The Bachlorette' marathon that I recorded. Now if you'll waddle behind me you can join me."

"It's hard to walk in these floppy shoes, Shawn!"

"Sure excuses, excuses. So wait, how on earth did you drive here?"

"I may have ya know, removed them while I was driving," Gus replied slowly.

"You drove barefoot?! Dude, that's disgusting! Now the car is gonna smell like feet!"

"Well how else was I supposed to get here? I couldn't exactly waddle all the way over here, Shawn!"

"Gus, does the word sneakers mean anything to you?"

"Well I changed at home so I forgot- Oh just shut it, Shawn!" he said as he "waddled" off towards the car.

Shawn stood there for a moment as he watched him and shook his head. "Man, I so should've brought my camera!"

A couple weeks later, Shawn and Gus, minus the waddling, entered the police station to check and see if the chief had any new cases to give to them. As they approached, they found it oddly quiet and noticed that everyone seemed to have disappeared somewhere.

"Dude, where is everyone?" Shawn said, looking around.

"I don't know, but this is eerie," Gus replied.

They then heard laughing coming from the Chief's office and saw that practically everyone in the department was surrounding that area. As they approached it, Shawn got more curious as the laughing continued.

"Hey, Buzz what's going on?" he asked, as he walked up to McNab.

"Oh hey, Shawn," McNab said turning towards him. "We have a new detective and she was just telling us some of the funniest stories of some collars that she's had during her career."

"Uh oh. I smell competition here. Gus, quick go get my ventriloquist dummies. It's time she saw what real funny is!"

"Shawn, those weren't funny when we were eight and they sure as hell aren't gonna be funny now," Gus replied.

"But you haven't seen my act since I've updated it, Gus. I even have a new dummy that looks like Lassie now. It was hard finding someone who could make the ears that big though."

As Gus glared at him, the Chief and the new detective started to laugh even louder. Then as soon as the crowd had cleared up Shawn and Gus then finally got to see what all the fuss was about, and they were both taken aback as the new detective turned around and smiled at them. She not only had a nice smile but was gorgeous as well. Something that defiantly didn't go unnoticed by either one of them.

"Oh, hi guys," the Chief said as she finally noticed them. "I'd like you to meet the newest member of the SBPD, Detective Angela Stone. Detective Stone, this is my head psychic detective Shawn Spencer and his partner, Burton Guster."

"Pleased to meet you," she said holding out her hand for both of them.

Before Shawn could say or do anything, Gus stepped in front of him with a flirty grin as he grabbed her hand and shook it gently. "Hello."

"Hi. Nice to meet you Mr. Guster," she replied as she shook his hand.

"You can call me Gus, beautiful lady," he said as he gave her his famous flirtatious grin.

"Really, Gus? You couldn't have at least waited a single minute before hitting on her?" Shawn asked.

"Shut up, Shawn! I can't help it, when I see someone this beautiful it's hard to control myself," he said, giving her another grin.

"Well try, Mr. Guster," the Chief interrupted. "Cause we want to make her feel welcome and not scare her off the first day that she's here."

Gus nodded slightly as he took a step back, still continuing to grin at her, as if he were in a trance.

Looking a bit uncomfortable, Detective Stone took a step back. "Uh,, I think I'm gonna just go finish up my paper work that I have to do if you don't mind, Chief. Nice meeting you both," she said as she quickly walked out the door.

"Dude, do you think you could not be creepy for once in your life?!" Shawn asked as he smacked Gus across the arm.

"It's called flirting, Shawn! Something that I'll always be better at than you!"

"Yeah, you're right. So then what is your single flirty self going to be doing tonight while I'm making hot passionate love to my wife?"

Gus looked away for a minute as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Shows what you know. I already planned on doing something alone tonight so you can kiss my black a-"

"Uh gentleman, can we please change the subject?!" the Chief said suddenly.

"Yes let's please do before Gus starts writing little love notes and starts singing his rendition of, 'Isn't She Lovely'", Shawn replied.

"Hey I only did that one time for Katie Morris in the eighth grade and she loved it, Shawn!"

"Gus, she punched you in the nose and poured your milk over your head!"

"Mr. Spencer, is there a reason you're here, other than wasting my time?!" the Chief chimed in.

"Well of course, Chief. Other than to see your always smiling face….uh or your face, we were wondering if you had any cases for us, cause my psychic spirits are getting a little restless. They need a challenge, they need to be worked up!"

The Chief nodded slowly as she stared at him. "I see. Well sorry Mr. Spencer but you're going to have to tell your psychic spirits that there's nothing for them right at the moment. I'll let you know if there is though, as always. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do. Oh, and stay away from our new detective you two. Especially you, Mr. Guster."

Shawn burst out laughing as Gus got an offended look on his face. "Dude, you actually got scolded by the Chief for once instead of me! This is the greatest day ever!"

"Shut up, Shawn!" Gus replied as they walked out of her office.

"Hey guys," Juliet said walking up to them. "What are you doing here? Did the Chief give you a case?"

"No, but she told Gus where to go," Shawn replied with a grin.

"That's it, I'm leavin," Gus stated as he turned around and walked off.

"Gus! Come on I'm kidding! Hey I thought we were supposed to go on a taco run!"

"What happened?" Juliet asked, looking confused.

"Oh, Gus was flirting with your new hot detective and-"

"Wait, our WHAT?" Juliet asked as she folded her arms and gave Shawn a stern look.

"Uh….your NON hot new detective," Shawn replied nervously.

"Mm hm, Nice save, Shawn."

"Aw honey, you know you're the hottest woman on the planet to me!"

"Yeah well even though I'm a woman I can tell when other woman are, ya know… semi pretty too. But word of advice, if I ever catch you smiling, flirting or doing anything in her direction other than talking then you're sleeping out the front lawn from now on! Got it?!"

Shawn nervously swallowed as he stared at her finger that was pointing in his face and nodded. "Loud and clear, my darling."

"Good. I'll see you at home later. Love you!" she stated with a smile as she walked away.

As Shawn stood there with a blank expression on his face, Henry came walking up behind him with a pat on his back.

"Hey, son. Whatcha up to?"

"Uh, nothing dad, just uh… Hey uh can I ask you something?" Shawn replied.

"As long as it's not for money, then shoot," Henry said, sitting down at his desk.

"When you were with mom, did she ever get these crazy mood swings out of the blue?"

"Uh oh, what'd you do to make Juliet upset this time?"

"Now why do you always think I did something?"

"Cause I know you and I know Juliet. Enough said."

"Well if you must know, Mr. Know It All, I didn't do anything. I was just mentioning that I met that new detective and she started getting all angry when I mentioned her!"

Henry glared at him. "Mm hm. And what did you say about her exactly?"

"Well ya know nothing much, I just may have accidentally stated how hot or not hot she may have been…"

"And you wonder why she got upset? You know son, if I were you I would start using your title as psychic detective loosely. And on another note, you're in a very delicate situation here. You work with your wife, so she's gonna be noticing everything you do from here on out. So if you see a woman that you think is even slightly attractive you divert those eyes quicker than anything or your ass is grass. And even if she's not, she's always right."

Shawn chuckled, "Oh come on, dad! What ever happened to open and honest communication?"

"I'm serious, Shawn. Trust me, I've had a lot more experience with woman than you have."

"Mm hm. Yeah so tell me why did mom divorce you again?"

Before Henry could come up with an answer, everyone suddenly started going towards one area of the station surrounding the TV. Curious as to what was going on, Shawn and Henry looked at one another and then got up and went to see what the commotion was about. As they squeezed their way through the crowed they looked at the TV screen, only to see a news reporter and a burning building behind her.

"…_The explosion happened just after 10:00 am. As of right now there's no word on how many survivors there are, but crews are working very hard as you can see right behind me. We'll continue to update you on this story as the day goes on. Steve, back to you…"_

"Alright everyone can I have your attention please?!" the Chief shouted as she walked into the area.

Everyone in the station then turned to look at her as she cleared her throat and continued. "Now as you all probably know by now, there was an explosion about an hour ago at that coffee shop on first street. Now I don't know if it was accidental or intentional but until I hear word of which one, absolutely no one is leaving! I'll also be sending some of you over there to help out with keeping the crowds under control. Now I need you all to return to what you were doing and I'll update you as soon as I find out anything. Dismissed!"

Everyone scattered except for Henry who kept staring at the TV. He had been a cop for many years but ever since he had dealt with the Santa Barbara bomber case, explosions no matter how big or small, always haunted him.

Noticing the look on his father's face, Shawn spoke up. "Dad? What's wrong?"

Henry shook his head as he held back his emotions. "Uh, nothing. Just a sad situation, that's all," he replied as he quickly started to walk back to his desk.

Looking confused, Shawn followed him. "Come on dad, I know you too well and I can tell when you have a look of where you know something's not right."

"Look it's nothing, Shawn, just drop it okay?"

"Hey Henry, you got some mail," McNab said as he threw a manila envelope on his desk.

"Thanks," Henry said as he started to open it.

"Dad, come on. Would you just talk to me? Obviously that explosion means something to you," Shawn pleaded.

Henry held up a finger to signal Shawn to be quiet as his eyes grew bigger with each word he read on the mail he had just received.

"What? What is that?" Shawn asked, confused.

Without saying a word, Henry put it on his desk and Shawn slowly took it. It was nothing but a blank piece of paper with letters from magazines cut out to form the words and Shawn's eyes grew bigger as well as he read it:

**TIK TIK BOOM. YOU THOUGHT I WAS GONE BUT YOU WERE DEAD WRONG. UNTIL YOU FIND ME THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS AGAIN. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN DETECTIVE SPENCER…**

"Dad…What's going on? Who sent this?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that bombing was no accident…."


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, well we couldn't find any fingerprints or traces of anything on the note. So unless you can think of anyone who might have sent it then we're not sure who we're dealing with here," Juliet said.

Sitting there in disbelief, Henry didn't say a word and instead kept staring at the note. It couldn't be him could it? They found Joe's body and they were certain it was Joe's body, the dental records even proved it. But if it wasn't him, who else would it be and why were they starting things up again now? All Henry knew was whether this was Joe who had come back from the dead or a copycat, that he couldn't let what happened to this town twenty years ago happen again. He was gonna find whoever sent that note no matter what it took.

Confused, Juliet put a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Henry? Are you okay?"

"Yeah Dad, talk to us. Who do you think could have sent this?" Shawn asked.

Henry cleared his throat and shook his head. "I don't know. Uh, excuse me."

With that, he got up from his desk and hurried off to the men's room. He immediately went to the sink and splashed his face with some water suddenly thinking back to one of the times when Joe had taunted him and cringed…

"_Phone for ya, Henry!"_

"_Thanks," Henry replied as he picked up the phone that sat on his desk. "This is Henry Spencer how can I help you?"_

"_You wanna know how you can help me, Detective? I'll tell you how you can help me. You either stop pursuing me or another building goes bye bye along with many more innocent people."_

_Henry's eyes widened. "Joe?! Where are you you son of a bitch?! Why are you doing this?!"_

"_My, my temper, temper. You wanna know why I'm doing this? Cause people need to know the truth! It's a dangerous world out there and no one realizes it! So I'm opening people's eyes!"_

"_No, you're taking innocent lives and I'm not gonna let you do that anymore! Now tell me where you are and we'll listen to what you have to say. Trust me it'll be worse if we find you instead of you turning yourself in."_

"_What do you think I'm stupid, Detective? Do you really think I'm gonna let you find me? Think again. Oh and one more thing, not only will I blow up another building if you don't leave me alone, but you and your family had better watch your backs as well, Detective Spencer."_

_Henry's eyes widened and in a shaky voice replied. "If you come anywhere near my family I'll kill you myself and that's not a threat, that's a promise."_

"_Good luck with that one, Detective. Catch me if you can…."_

Henry suddenly felt a fit of rage fill his body. How could this be happening again? Why was it happening again?

"Dad, talk to me what's going on?" Shawn said walking into the room.

"Shawn, it's nothing just let it be," Henry said as he started to pace around nervously. "It's nothing…"

Henry then felt a sudden fit of rage come upon him and he released it by punching the paper towel dispenser completely off the wall making Shawn's mouth drop to the floor.

"Uhhh, yeah well ya know I've been telling the Chief that we need to remodel anyway," Shawn said looking at it.

Henry leaned against the wall rubbing his now injured hand and looked up at the ceiling trying not to let the frustrating tears that came upon him come out. "This can't happen again."

"What can't happen again?" Shawn asked, confused.

Henry sighed as he continued to rub his hand. "Do you remember that time about twenty years ago when I wasn't at home very much and sometimes I would be at work for days on end?"

"If you're talking about that time when mom and I had the time of our lives then yes I do," Shawn said with a smile. Realizing Henry was more upset than he had ever seen him in his life, Shawn then answered differently. "Yeah, I remember. You were working on some high profile case and we barely saw you for like six months. Why what does that have to do with this note?"

"Do you remember what the case was that I was working on?" Henry asked.

"No cause I don't believe you ever told me."

"Okay well let me ask you this- do you remember ever hearing about the Santa Barbara Bomber?"

"Yeah it was talked about constantly at school and- wait a minute, _that's_ the high profile case you were working on? So you mean that note is from whoever did the bombings back then?!"

"That's the thing I don't know. We thought he was dead. I mean his body was found in one of the buildings that he had blown up. Dental records even confirmed it. Unless he faked his death somehow."

"Well then we gotta find out. We'll start investigating things. I'll talk to Jules and Gus and see what we can do," Shawn said as he started to go towards the door.

Henry suddenly grabbed his arm and looked directly at him. "No. You're not going anywhere near this case, you understand me?"

"Seriously? Dad, come on someone sent a threatening note and it was sent to you. So not only could innocent people be hurt but he could come after you too. I'm not gonna let that happen."

"I'll be fine this is something I have to finish on my own."

"Look Dad, I know you're as stubborn as a really annoying mule, but so am I. Now you need help and I'm gonna do it whether you want me to or not."

"No Shawn, this guy or copycat, whoever it is, is very dangerous and I'm not gonna have you getting hurt cause of someone who has a vendetta against me! Now drop it!" Henry shouted as he walked towards the door.

This time it was Shawn who grabbed his father's arm as he continued to talk. "And you think I'm gonna stand by and let something happen to you, too?! I know we may not always see eye to eye but hearing that you got severely injured or killed in an explosion is something I don't want to ever experience. You know how you've always worried about me? Well try having a father who's been a cop ever since you've been in diapers. I mean you don't know how many times when you wouldn't come home on time that mom would be pacing by the front door chewing her fingernails or jumping a mile every time she heard the phone ring. Or how I would be doing anything I could do to distract myself from worrying like she did. Well it didn't work then and it sure as hell won't work now. So I can either help you behind your back or by your side but either way I'm not sitting back and letting you do this alone."

Henry stood there a minute then smiled. "You're about as stubborn as your old man you know that?"

"Yeah well, it's a good quality to have in tough times. Something else I believe my old man taught me," Shawn replied with a grin.

Henry nodded. "Yeah it sure is. And you know how worried you were about me? Well that's about how worried I get of you when you pull your dangerous stunts. Just remember that the next time you even think about putting yourself in another dangerous situation, got it?"

"I'll do my best," Shawn replied. "And don't worry, we're gonna get this guy, Dad."

"I sure hope so. But first, why don't we get some ice for my hand since it feels like it's gonna fall off," Henry said as he cradled it.

Shawn smiled and nodded. "Sure."

"What the hell happened in here, Spencer?" Lassie said suddenly coming in and noticing the paper towel dispenser on the floor.

"Oh well the Chief thought you had too much time on your hands so she has a project for you to do, Lassie my boy! Now remember nothing that clashes. Think twenty first century but classy," Shawn said as he and Henry walked out.

"There you guys are!" Juliet said, running up to them. "The Chief needs us up in her office, pronto."

"For what?" Henry asked.

"I don't know she just said it's urgent," she replied as they all hurried down the hallway. "What happened to your hand, Henry?"

"Don't ask," Henry replied as he went into the Chief's office.

Before they entered, Juliet stopped and faced Shawn. "Is your dad okay?"

"In what sense? That's a question that could have so many different answers," Shawn said.

Juliet half smiled. "I meant now."

"Eh it's complicated. I'll explain it to you later."

"Oh but I thought later we were going to be doing other stuff ," she replied, giving his cheek a kiss.

"Hm. So I'm guessing you're no longer mad about Detective- uh you know what never mind, we'd better see what the chief needs!"

"Guys will never learn," Juliet said to herself as she walked in.

"The day there's no longer a Spencer working in this department is the day I'll be the happiest man in the world," Lassie said, rushing by Juliet and into the office.

"Okay, now frankly I wish I didn't have to call all of you up here but there's something I need to show you before the rest of the department finds out. This DVD was delivered to my office a little bit ago and well…you'll just have to see it for yourselves."

She then pressed play only to have a plain brown building show up suddenly on the screen.

"What are we looking at, Chief?" Lassie asked.

"Just wait, unfortunately there's more," the Chief replied.

As they all stood there and watched this building on the TV screen for what seemed like an eternity, they suddenly watched in horror as the building suddenly blew up before their eyes. Staring at the screen in shock they watched the building as it burned and soon after saw a note pop up on the screen:

**CATCH ME IF YOU CAN….**


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't know why this is happening again! I just…. We have to stop this, Karen. You didn't see what this guy put this town through twenty years ago and I'll be damned if it happens again!"

"Look Henry, I want to catch whoever did this too but all we have right now is a note and a building on this DVD at an unknown location. And so far it seems like the explosion at the coffee house was a coincidence because there were reports of a gas leak there from one of the stoves," Chief Vick argued.

"So what? That's it then? Throw in the towel? We should just forget about it?! And how sure are you that the coffee house explosion was just a conicidence?" Henry shouted.

"Well because we haven't found any evidence stating otherwise. And no one got hurt because someone smelled the gas and evacuated everyone so I think for now we need to just focus on the building on this DVD and ask ourselves why this was sent to you and if it was even in Santa Barbara."

Henry paced back and forth nervously as he tried to get a grip on everything. He knew without a doubt that it was indeed in Santa Barbara. He knew this guy and how he operated and worst of all knew that he wanted to torture him just like he did back when he was working the case the first time.

"Okay I've got recruitments and we're ready to help, Chief!" Shawn stated as he walked in with Gus.

"I see. I take it you've had some psychic readings then, Mr. Spencer?"

"Mmmm well, no not yet but I'm hoping to soon. I just need to see the DVD again to stir up my psychic juices."

Henry sighed. "Shawn look, I changed my mind. I'm the consultant and I'm the one that decides whether to hire you or not and this time I'm not. So thanks for wanting to help but we can handle this."

"Uh, Henry yes you're right you can decide to hire them or otherwise, but as Chief I outrank you and I need everyone we can get to help with this case, including your son. So I'm sorry to have to do this, but Mr. Spencer and Mr. Guster you are officially hired on this case. The DVD is in the conference room."

"Thanks Chief! I shall have a reading for you in no time," Shawn said, putting his hand to his forehead and walking out of the room with Gus.

"Well gee thanks a lot. Now every time I don't hire them for something they'll just go crying to you," Henry said, angrily.

The Chief glared at Henry. "May I ask why you're so against this? You have a very gifted son, Henry who frankly has solved more cases then all of the cops combined here."

"Yeah well this is one case I don't want him on, but I guess my opinion doesn't matter. Just like it didn't matter when I didn't want him on the Yin and Yang cases either, which in case you forgot almost got him and his mother killed!"

"Yes but he also caught one of the most wanted criminals Santana Barbara has ever had! And if this bomber is anything like him, then I want him catching him too! Look, if it makes you feel any better I'll talk to him and tell him that he needs to have a police escort at all times while he's investigating this."

"Oh yeah cause he's always listened so well in the past," Henry replied as he started to walk out of her office. He then stopped short and turned around. "If anything happens to my son, then I'll hold you personally responsible."

The Chief stood there in shock as she watched him angrily storm out of her office and sighed. Was she doing the right thing? She knew if she were in Henry's place and her daughter was working a dangerous case that she would be pretty upset as well. She would never want Shawn to get hurt, especially after what happened to him only six months ago, but she couldn't risk innocent people being killed or hurt either. She needed this bomber caught, especially if it was the same person from twenty years ago.

"Please, please let us catch him," she prayed. "Please…."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Man, don't you have any of your 'psychic' readings yet? We've been looking at this video for hours," Gus stated impatiently.

"Gus, don't be like Walter, I'll figure this out," Shawn said as he rewound the DVD again.

"Don't be like who?"

"Walter. My angry old guy dummy that I use in my ventriloquist act."

"Shawn, that's a dummy from Jeff Dunham's act!"

"Yeah I know, he copied me. It's not something I like to talk about."

"How do you know he didn't create Walter first?"

"Because mine was inspired by my dad, Gus. Seriously, it's like you don't know anything about me."

"Oh believe me, I wish that wasn't true. I really do," Gus said.

Shawn finally got the video to where he wanted it and pressed play again, as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'm gonna go get us some coffee," Gus said, noticing.

Without saying a word, Shawn held his hand up and then continued to look at the screen. An old brown building just sitting in the middle of nowhere. No words no nothing on it. Then the explosion. Still nothing.

"Ahhhhh I give up, Gus! There's nothing, there's absolutely nothing here!"

"Well I hate to say this but we may have to wait til after something else happens," Gus said handing him a cup of coffee. "I mean there's no way of telling where this- wait a minute. Rewind that!"

"Why? There's nothing on here," Shawn asked, confused.

"No, it's faint but I think I saw something. Rewind it to right after the building explodes," Gus said getting closer to the screen.

Hesitantly, Shawn rewound it and pushed play. "What on earth are you seeing, Gus?"

Gus stared intently at the screen for a few seconds before his eyes widened with hope. "Look! There's a sign! It's hard to notice but it says something on it!"

Shawn squinted his eyes and to his shock saw what Gus was pointing at. "Oh my God, you're right! How did I not see that before?!"

"Maybe I'm starting to be the better 'psychic'," Gus replied with a smile on his face.

"Gus, no one likes a bragger."

"You brag all the time!"

"That's because I'm the psychic so I'm allowed," Shawn said as he stared at the screen and ignored Gus's looks.

As he squinted and looked at the sign he noticed something that looked familiar. It was barely noticeable but it was a picture of what looked like Smokey the bear.

"That's weird," Shawn said as he continued to look at it. "Does that look like Smokey the Bear to you?"

"Smokey the Bear? Surely you must be joking," Gus said as he squinted at the screen as well. "Wait a minute you're right. Wasn't that-"

"At the lake where my dad used to take us fishing when were younger. That building was the old drug store that we used to get ice cream cones at! It's like ten miles outside of Santa Barbara!" he said as he darted out of the room.

"Chief!" he screamed as he ran into her office. "I know where that building was! It's by Crystal Lake about ten miles outside of Santa Barbara!"

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Shawn nodded as he tried to catch his breath. "Positive. I used to go there all the time when I was a kid."

"Okay then let's go."

xxxxxxxxx

About forty five minutes later, Shawn, Gus, the Chief, Juliet, Lassie, Henry and some uniformed officers arrived at the lake, all of them hoping it would lead them to find out who had done this.

"Turn here," Shawn instructed Lassie from the back seat of his car.

"I sure as hell hope you're right about this, Spencer," Lassie said as he turned.

"Carlton, have some faith. Why would he lead us on a wild goose chase?" Juliet chimed in.

"Oh gee yeah cuz he's never done that before. What was I thinking?" Lassie replied.

"Just think of it this way, Lassie, the sooner we catch this guy the sooner you'll be able to pull out your little weapon there," Shawn stated.

"Like I need an excuse to do that," Lassie said under his breath.

"I sure as heck hope we're right about this," Gus whispered in a worried tone.

"Gus, you worry too much. Just have a little faith and as soon as we're done here, we'll go get some tacos and a couple of pineapple slushies and we'll relax for the night, okay?"

"Can we get some nachos, too?" Gus asked looking over at him with pleading eyes.

"You got it, buddy. With extra cheese."

"You know that's right," Gus replied as he fist bumped Shawn.

"Well I'll be damned, there it is," Lassie said as turned the corner.

Shawn and Gus looked in awe as they saw a demolished building before them along with burned grass around it. They then made their way out of the car and walked up towards the building, feeling a bit saddened that one of their childhood memories was now in pieces.

"Good work, Mr. Spencer," the Chief said walking up behind him.

"Why thank you, Chief. It's nice to know that some people still have faith in me," he replied as he shot Henry a look

Henry sighed and caught up to him. "Shawn, I never said I didn't have any faith in you. I just don't feel comfortable with you working on this case. This guy was extremely dangerous and had hurt and killed a lot of people."

"I know that dad but I've dealt with crazy lunatics before, so why all of a sudden are you so against me working on this case?"

"Because…he threatened to hurt you and your mother back when I was working on this the first time. And if this is the same guy, he's gonna make sure that something happens to you or me this time. Whether that means hurting us or hurting those we love. But we need to be cautious," Henry stated.

"Don't worry, dad I'll be careful I promise. But we need to catch this person before he does hurt or kill someone. Just let me do this."

Henry hesitated a moment and nodded. "Alright. But you're not to go anywhere alone and you consult with me on everything that you're going to do. Deal?"

"Deal. Now let's go see what he has for us up there," he replied, pointing to the demolished building.

They then walked up the gravel lane only to be met by debris and bricks sprawled all over the place. They continued to what was left of the building and joined the rest of the gang who were searching for any clues the bomber might have left. As Shawn stepped over the mess he looked around to see if he could come up with any "psychic" visions that might help. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary, when suddenly something shiny caught his eye. As he leaned down to look at it he saw it was a plain diamond earring.

"Huh. That's weird," he said as he held it up and looked at it.

"So our bomber could be a woman?" Gus asked looking at it.

"Possibly. Or a very fancy man," Shawn replied.

"Well thank God there was nobody hurt," Juliet said as she walked around.

"Yeah but there's still nothing here to tell us who did this," Lassie pointed out.

"Just have some faith Carlton we'll figure it-" Juliet stopped suddenly after hearing what sounded like a click underneath her foot. "What was that?" she asked with a nervous tone in her voice.

"What was what?" Lassie asked.

"That click. It felt like a click underneath my foot."

"Okay just relax, Juliet. Let me look," Henry said as he knelt to the ground.

"Dad, what is it?" Shawn asked, sounding nervous.

Henry looked up, wanting more than anything not to say what was going to come out of his mouth next. "It's a bomb."

"NO!" Shawn screamed, as he started to run towards her.

Henry ran into his path and stopped him. "Just relax. She can't move or it'll go off."

"Jules…No…."

He then looked into Juliet's tear filled eyes and she looked back into his, hoping that this wouldn't be the last time they would see each other...


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, I called the bomb squad but they won't be able to make it for another forty minutes," the Chief said.

"We can't wait that long!" Shawn shouted. "Somebody needs to do something!"

"Shawn, calm down we'll get her out of here," Gus said.

"Gus, I can't calm down. That's my wife and she could be taken from me at any moment!...I can't lose her," he replied in a shaky voice.

"I know," Gus said as he pulled Shawn into an embrace.

As they stood there for a moment hugging one another, Shawn couldn't believe this. His dad was right. Whoever this bomber was sure was a sicko, and if Juliet was taken from him he'll stop at nothing to find whoever did this and kill them himself.

"Okay, I've got some relatively good news," Henry stated as he walked up to Shawn and Gus. "Now I've seen bombs like this before. It's weight activated so we just need something that weighs as much or more than her and she can step off of it."

"I'll do it," Shawn said suddenly.

"No, Shawn I didn't mean a person, I meant something, like an object. And besides you must be out of your mind to think I'm gonna let you step on a bomb."

"Well I'm sorry, dad but that's my wife and I'll do whatever I can do to save her."

"Okay look, I understand you're worried. I am too. I would never want anything to happen to Juliet. We just need to figure out a safer way to do this so no one gets hurt," Henry pleaded.

Shawn sighed. "Fine. Are you sure this will work?"

"I wouldn't do anything unless I was sure," Henry replied. "Now you stay here and we'll try to find something."

Shawn nodded as Henry gathered up everyone to help him find something to help Juliet. He then slowly walked up to her, wanting so badly to be able to hold her and tell her how much he loved her.

"Hey," he said as he slowly approached her.

"Hey," she said back in shaky voice.

"They're just going to find something to-"

Juliet nodded as she wiped a tear away. "I know."

Trying to hold back his own tears, Shawn continued. "I'm so sorry."

"Why? This wasn't your fault."

"I know, but I should've thought to have it checked before we looked this place over."

"Shawn, listen to me. This is just a freak thing that happened. You couldn't have prevented this."

"Yeah, well, this is one time I really wish I was psychic."

"I know. But it is what it is. This was the doing of some psycho. Not you."

Shawn nodded as he sniffed and wiped a tear away. "I just don't know what'd I'd do without you."

"I know. I don't know what'd I'd do without you either. And if something does happen, I want you to know that… These past couple years of being with you have been really special to me and you're absolutely the love of my life."

Choking back more tears that were threatening to fall, Shawn smiled the best that he could. "I feel the exact same way, Jules."

"Okay, we've got something," Henry interrupted.

Shawn and Juliet looked over at everyone as they carried a huge tree branch over to them.

"A tree branch? Really?" Shawn replied sounding unsure.

"Trust me Shawn it's heavier than it looks."

"Yeah it is so can we hurry up with this?" Lassie said as beads of sweat ran down his forehead.

"Carlton, that's my wife standing on that bomb, so do you think you could quit being the giant ass that you usually are and show some respect for once?!"

Lassie, along with everyone else, looked taken aback.

"I'm sorry. I'm just nervous too, I guess," Lassie replied.

Shawn nodded then looked at Juliet. "Okay, you ready?"

Juliet took a deep breath and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, now Juliet, we're going to slowly put the tree branch on it and then you're going to slowly step off of it when I say to," Henry instructed her.

"Okay," Juliet said quietly as she stared in Shawn's eyes.

Shawn looked back into her eyes as well hoping and praying that this wouldn't be the last time he was able to stare into them.

"I love you," Juliet said suddenly.

"I love you, too," Shawn replied in a nervous voice.

"Okay, you ready?" Henry asked.

Juliet just nodded and squeezed her eyes shut feeling like all of her breath was knocked out of her. Henry, Lassie, Gus and the Chief then slowly lowered the branch onto the part of the bomb that Juliet's foot wasn't on. After what seemed like an eternity for everyone, they finally had the branch fully on it and slowly backed away, hoping and praying it would work.

"Alright, Juliet, now very slowly, step off of it," Henry instructed her.

Juliet took a deep breath and did as she was told. Each step she took felt like a mile when she suddenly felt the concrete floor again. She looked down at her feet and saw to her and everyone else's relief that she was no longer on the bomb. She then hurried up and ran over to Shawn, jumping into his arms as they both held each other tightly.

"Promise me you'll never scare me like that again," Shawn stated as he pressed his face tightly against hers.

Juliet sniffed and nodded. "I promise. I love you so much."

"I love you too," he replied, suddenly finding himself locking his lips with her.

Henry, Gus, the Chief and even Lassie all smiled as they stared at the two lovebirds passionately kissing each other, all of them glad that they'll now have much more of that to come.

"Well I must say I'm very impressed, Henry," Chief Vick said.

"Thanks, Karen. Oh and hey, about earlier, I'm really sorry for what I said. I was just worried and I was overreacting big time," Henry admitted.

"It's okay, I understand. I would feel the same way if that were my child too," she replied.

"I just hope we can figure this out soon. That was too close of a call," Henry said.

"I couldn't agree more. Let's just hope there's some prints or clues somewhere on that bomb."

"I just got a call, the bomb squad is lost," Lassie said as he walked up to the Chief and Henry.

"Well give them directions then," Chief Vick replied.

"Uh, I don't exactly remember how we got up here."

Chief Vick shot him a look and then grabbed his phone, "Fine, I'll do it. Honestly, Detective."

Lassie shrugged his shoulders. "What? I'm not that much of a country person!"

"Well I don't know about you but I feel like going home and not going anywhere for the rest of the night," Shawn said to Juliet.

Juliet smiled. "You read my mind."

Shawn smiled as well, when he suddenly noticed Gus giving him a pathetic look. "Alright, we'll get some tacos first."

Juliet laughed as Gus smiled and clapped his hands together like a child. "And I'll buy us each an ice cream cone afterwards, how does that sound?"

"I think it sounds divine," Shawn replied as he gave her another kiss. "And how about some whip cream for later?"

"Alright, I'm gonna go wait by the car," Gus said suddenly, as he walked off.

"Man, I can't believe this place is gone. I spent so much of my childhood here," Shawn told her as he looked around.

"Well, the lake is still here and who knows, maybe one day we'll have of our own children out here," Juliet replied happily.

"Yeah, and I'm just glad we have that one day to look forward too."

"Me too," Juliet said as she layed her head on his shoulder.

As they both stood there and looked out at the beautiful scenery, Shawn suddenly heard a noise coming from behind them. He suddenly turned to look and see what it was, when to his horror he saw the branch slowly sliding off the bomb.

"Everybody RUN!" Shawn shouted as he motioned for the rest of them to run out of the demolished building.

Without saying a word, everyone looked and saw the same thing Shawn had and immediately started running out towards the open pasture as far away from the building as they could. Shawn started to run too when he suddenly heard someone shouting for him.

"Spencer! I tripped over one of those damn bricks and twisted my ankle," Lassie said as he layed on the concrete floor.

Shawn hesitated a moment then ran over to him. "Alright put your arm around me."

"What you're not gonna carry me?"

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Mm maybe."

Lassie then put his arm around Shawn's shoulders and stood up, limping as fast as he could as they both made their way to the open field. As they approached the end of the building, Shawn suddenly looked over and watched as the branch slid completely off the bomb. Without thinking, he pushed Lassie out of the building and he ran and dove to the ground, soon hearing an explosion behind them along with Henry, Juliet's and Guse's shouts.

After a few minutes, Shawn looked up and was relieved that instead of what was left of the building being on him, that only a few bricks and debris had made it's way on top of him. He looked over and was releived to see Lassie sitting up and removing some of the debris and dust that had gotten on him as well. Shawn himself slowly managed to bring himself to a sitting position, suddenly feeling a hint of dizziness and something warm flowing down his face. He then put his hand on it, only to have it covered by blood, soon realizing that he had a huge gash on his forehead.

"Shawn! Are you alright?!" Henry asked as he ran up to him with Juliet, Gus and the Chief following close behind.

Shawn groaned a bit as he tried to move his sore body into a standing position. "Yeah, I think so."

"Oh I'm fine. Don't worry about me!" Lassie shouted.

"Oh no problem seeing as to how your clumsiness almost got my husband killed!" Juliet shouted.

"Jules, it's okay. This is Lassie we're talking about. He's always been a clumsy guy," Shawn pointed out.

"Hey! I resent that!" Lassie shouted back.

"Oh I'll give you something to resent!" Juliet replied as she held a fist up and started to walk over to him.

Shawn suddenly put his arm in front of her. "Honey, it's okay. I'm fine. Just let it go."

Staring intently at Lassie she reluctantly agreed. "Fine."

"You'd better go get checked out, son. Especially since you have a gash the size of Texas on your head," Henry said.

"I'll be fine, dad," Shawn said as he took a step, before suddenly swaying backwards a bit.

Henry and Juliet caught him before he could hit the ground. "You wanna repeat that?" Henry asked.

"Alright, maybe a little trip the hospital wouldn't be such a bad idea," Shawn agreed.

"Okay now neither of you move an inch, just stay put until the ambulance comes. I don't need either of you getting hurt any worse than you already are," the Chief stated as she pointed at Shawn and Lassie.

"Uh, did anyone actually call for an ambulance?" Gus asked, confused.

The Chief silently smacked herself in the head and sighed a frustrated sigh. "Alright new plan. Henry, you and Detective O' Hara help Mr. Spencer to one car and Mr. Guster and I will help Detective Lassiter to another, and we'll drive them to the hospital."

They all nodded and slowly started walking towards where the cars were parked, when Shawn stopped suddenly at something that caught his eye.

"Whoa wait, wait, wait," he said. "There's something over there under all that rubble."

"Where? I don't see anything," Juliet replied as she looked around.

"Over there where all that cement is crumbled up," Shawn said as he pointed over to it. "Take me over there."

"Shawn, you're in no condition to-"

"Dad, I'm fine just please let's walk over there I'm telling you I see something."

Henry sighed. "Alright, but slowly."

Then all turned and slowly started walking towards the direction Shawn was pointing to. As they got closer, Shawn squinted to make out what it was but couldn't quite tell with all of the rubble on top of it. With Henry and Juliet's help he then lowered himself to the ground and started throwing some of the rubble out of the way, when to his shock he suddenly saw what it was.

"Oh my God," Juliet said in shock. "It's… It's a-"

Shawn looked up at her. "It's a skeleton."


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, well let me know as soon as you have it then and hurry!"

Chief Vick slammed the phone down with a frustrated sigh. Of all the cases she's worked on this was by far the most frustrating. No clues as to who did the bombing and no explanation as to why they were doing this. Was it a personal vendetta against Henry or was it just random? Was the skeleton put there for them to find and if so why? And was this bombing and the bombing at the coffee house related or just coincidence like she had previously thought?

She took a sip of her now lukewarm coffee and rubbed her temples wishing she had an answer to even just one of her questions.

"Chief any leads yet?" Juliet asked as she entered her office.

The Chief laughed and shook her head. "Now wouldn't that be nice? Just for once in my whole freaking career I would love to get a case and have the answers and the whodunit within twenty four hours or less! But no! It's a damn conspiracy against me! And do you think they can hurry their asses up in the lab and get me some answers as to who the skeleton used to be?! Hell no of course not! My job is just cherry!"

Juliet stood there stunned, and frankly a little frightened, after the Chief finished her meltdown and spoke very carefully. "Uh, well…Hey I'm getting a little hungry, you hungry? How about some Chinese? Great, I'll go order!"

She then hurried up out of her office and literally ran into Lassie, making her drop her paperwork in her hand. "Carlton! Do you know how long it took me to get that organized?!"

"Hey, I've got my own problems! Like now I'm restricted to desk duty until my ankle is better thanks to your husband!"

"You've gotta be joking! If it hadn't been for Shawn then you would've been blown to bits! I mean Shawn is at the hospital right now getting a cat scan done to make sure he didn't get a serious head injury!"

"He doesn't need a cat scan for me know that something seriously is wrong with him."

Juliet responded with a glare. "You really wanna go there? Cause I could easily tell you about a hundred things that are wrong with you!"

"Hey, compared to that idiot I'm completely normal!"

"Oh please! Don't make me laugh!"

"Alright fine, just keep being delusional O'Hara!"

"Carlton, it's Spencer for the thousandth time!"

"Look, no offense, but it's hard enough calling the other Spencer's in here by their names without getting nauseous. And I actually like you so associating that name with you…I don't know it just seems wrong somehow," he finished.

"But Carlton, that _is_ my name now whether you like it or not," she replied glaring at him.

"Mm hm. Well gotta run. I'll see you later O'Hara," he said as he limped away.

Juliet rolled her eyes as she bent down to pick up her papers when she suddenly saw a hand helping her. She looked up and to her surprise saw Detective Stone helping her with a smile on her face.

"Hi!" Detective Stone said with a smile.

A bit startled Juliet managed to create a smile as well. "Oh hey, Detective Stone, right?"

"Yes. And you're Detective Spencer?"

"Uh-"

"Oh I'm sorry did I get it wrong? I did, didn't I? I'm so bad with names," she replied nervously.

"Uh no, no that's right I'm just not used to being called it," she stated as she finished picking up the last of her papers.

"Oh and why's that?"

"Well I just got married a few months ago and my husband and father-in-law work here too, so I think it just kind of gets a bit confusing having three Spencer's around here, so everyone seems to stick with my maiden name," she replied.

"Oh I see. Your husband is that psychic guy, right?"

"Yup that's him. He can be a bit, let's just say, outgoing at times but he's really good at what he does."

"I can imagine. He's probably also good in the bedroom I bet," she said giving Juliet a little nudge with her elbow.

Juliet's mouth dropped open. Who the hell does this woman think she is? "Uh yeah well, I need to be getting back to work so if you'll excuse me."

"Hey Jules!" Shawn said suddenly getting in front of her.

"Hey! So how are you? Is everything okay?"

"Yup. Just a small concussion but otherwise I'm just as perfect and lovable as I was before!"

"Maybe perfect is too strong of a word," Gus replied.

"Gus, your negativity is not welcome," Shawn stated.

"Well I'm glad everything turned out okay for you, Mr. Spencer," Detective Stone said.

"Uh thank you… Detective Stone is it?" Shawn asked looking confused.

"Yes. Good to see you again," she replied with a flirty grin, which defiantly didn't go unnoticed by Juliet.

Suddenly Shawn was being pushed out of the way by Gus, who had a flirtatious grin of his own. "Hello. So we meet again."

Looking rather uncomfortable and uninterested, she slowly nodded. "Uh, yeah well I've got a lot of work I've gotta get to so I'll catch you guys later."

"She wants me," Gus stated as he watched her walk away.

"Dude, she wants you about as much as Rosie O' Donnell wants a man," Shawn replied.

"You're just jealous, Shawn!"

"Gus, why would I possibly be jealous when I have this lovely lady here?" he replied as he put his arm around Juliet.

Juliet shot a look up at him. "Oh so _now _you notice me?!"

"Uh, did I do something?" Shawn asked, confused.

"Yeah it's called flirting!"

"What? Jules, I was not flirting with her!"

"Well you didn't exactly look away when she was giving you her flirtatious smile!"

"Uh, okay, you're right, maybe I didn't but I have a head injury it's making me a little slow with my responses," he replied with a slight laugh.

"You want a worse head injury?" Juliet said as she got inches away from his face.

Shawn cleared his throat nervously. "Uh no. You're right I should've looked away. I'll just look away whenever a beautiful woman looks at me from now on."

"You think she's beautiful?!" Juliet shouted.

"Hey guys," Henry said suddenly walking up to them.

"Dad! Hey, what's up?" Shawn asked, thankful for the interruption.

"Well, for starters what'd the hospital say?"

"It's just a small concussion which is dangerously close to turning into a major one!" Juliet said.

"Uh, is everything okay?" Henry asked.

Shawn laughed nervously. "Everything is fine pops! Just a little husband and wife disagreement."

As Juliet glared at him, Henry nodded and continued. "Uh well, anyway I just wanted to tell you that I know we had that discussion earlier but considering what just happened, and considering the fact that the building that exploded was personal for us, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be working on this case after all."

"Dad, we've been over this. I'm not ditching the case. We need all the help we can get on this one. And if someone is after you then I'm not just gonna sit back and twiddle my thumbs!"

"Yeah well I'm not worried about me getting hurt, I'm worried about you!"

"Dad, I'm fine. I'm not a kid anymore I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, okay?"

"You know what? Fine. I'm done trying to explain this to you. Maybe when you finally have kids of your own you'll suddenly realize that it doesn't matter whether your child is three or thirty you're always gonna worry about them!"

"Okay fine, but in the same sense you need to also let me live my own life."

"Oh yeah cause you've always done such a good job of that!" Henry shouted walking away.

"I've never seen your father so angry before," Juliet said, shocked.

"Yeah well, nothing's changed I guess I'll always be a disappointment to him," Shawn replied trying avoid her seeing how hurt he was.

"You okay?" she replied, rubbing his back.

"Uh, yeah fine," Shawn said quickly. "So uh, did they ever find out who that skeleton belonged to?"

"No not yet."

"Terrific. So we have nothing to go on and no clues to lead us anywhere," he replied, sounding annoyed.

"Just hang in there, we'll get something soon," she said. "So…I was just gonna go order some dinner. You guys feel like Chinese?"

"Uh, thanks Jules, but I'm not too hungry. I'm gonna go home and lay down for a bit," Shawn said.

"But, Shawn-"

"I'm fine. I'll see you later," he replied giving her a quick kiss and walking off.

"I've never seen him like this," Juliet said, worried.

"I know. I think Henry really got to him this time," Gus agreed.

"Maybe I should talk to Henry," Juliet said, concerned.

"Uh ya know, those two are pretty stubborn so I would just leave them alone and let them work it out themselves," Gus said.

"Yeah but I hate to see them like this. I mean they're my family now, Gus."

"I know but trust me, I've been around them long enough to know how to handle them," Gus replied.

"Well I'm giving them a few days and if they don't patch things up then I'm not giving them a choice."

"Okaaay," Gus said uncertainly.

"Oh shut up!" she said walking off.

"Okay I'm getting the hell out of here. There's too many crazy people up in here today," Gus said turning around to leave.

"Mr. Guster! Stop right there!" the Chief said coming out of her office. "Detective O'Hara, Detective Lassiter, Mr. Spencer and Henry I need you all in my office NOW!"

"Uh, Lassie and Shawn aren't here," Gus said nervously.

"What?! Where are they?!"

"Uh I don't know."

"Well never mind just get in here!"

Gus slowly walked in her office followed by Juliet and Henry. "What's going on, Chief?" Juliet asked.

The Chief responded by giving them an empty, yet worried look, and responded. "Okay well they managed to get some dna results off the skeleton. And I don't know quite how to say this, but we defiantly have a copycat on our hands."

"What are you talking about?' Henry asked.

The Chief took a hesitant breath and continued. "Because… that skeleton was Joe Martin."


	6. Chapter 6

"What did you just say?" Henry said in shock.

"The skeleton we found was Joe Martin," the Chief repeated slowly.

For that moment it was as if Henry suddenly forgot how to speak. How could this have happened? They buried Joe Martin twenty years before and even if they hadn't why didn't he blow up anymore buildings after that? And who's blowing them up now?

As these questions raced through his mind he suddenly noticed that everyone was staring at him with worried expressions on their faces. "Uh, I uh…gotta go…"

With a blank expression on his face they all watched as he exited the office.

"Okay this case is getting more and more complicated," Juliet said.

"Tell me about it," the Chief agreed.

"So what are we going to do now?" Gus asked.

"Well you can go find Mr. Spencer, and Detective O'Hara can go find Detective Lassiter and you can both bring them up to speed while I try my hands at getting an exhume order and see just who happens to be in Mr. Martin's grave," she finished. "Oh, and Detective, maybe you can go check on your father-in-law and make sure he's alright."

Juliet nodded. "Sure thing, Chief."

"Okay well I'm gonna go search for your husband," Gus said as they walked out of her office.

"Okay, hey have him call me when you find him."

"Will do!" he said as he walked off in a hurry.

Juliet sighed and looked over at Henry, who seemed to be in a daze. She knew he wasn't much for talking about his feelings, much like his son at times, but this was one time she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

She then slowly approached his desk and stood by it without him even so much as flinching. "Henry, do you wanna talk?"

Without blinking, Henry shrugged his shoulders. "What's to talk about? I don't even know what to say anymore."

"Well you have to be feeling something," she replied.

"Other than giving up?"

A bit taken aback she sat there for a moment before she figured out what to say next. She took a deep breath and placed her hand on top of his looking directly at him. "Henry, listen to me. I know this has got to be frustrating, terrifying and tiring for you, but you can't give up. Someone is targeting you and the people you care about. Now we need to do everything we can to catch this guy before he does something worse."

"We're too late," Lassie said as he came upon them.

"What are you talking about?" Juliet asked, confused.

"There was another bombing and this time there were casualties."

Suddenly springing back to life Henry chimed in. "What? Where?!"

"A convince store. They so far have estimated about ten casualties."

"Oh my god…" Juliet said, stunned.

"Yeah and…"

"And what?" Henry said abruptly.

"Well the convenience store was a block down from your son's office," Lassie stated hesitantly.

Henry shot up out of his chair "What?! Well where is he?!"

"I'm fine don't worry," Shawn replied as he suddenly approached them with Gus beside him.

Henry sighed in relief. "Good. So let's make our way over to the store and see if there's any clues."

"I think blowing up a store that's a block from where we work is clue enough," Gus pointed out.

"You're right, Gus. And I think it would be wise for you and Shawn to keep your distance," Juliet said.

"Not gonna happen," Henry and Shawn both replied at the same time.

Shocking everyone and themselves, they both looked at each other, neither of them wanting to show even the slightest bit of emotion of any kind and refusing to let go of their stubborn attitudes.

Noticing it Juliet suddenly slammed her paper work that she had been holding on Henry's desk and walked up to both of them. "Alright now I've had about enough of this! Now you are my husband and you are my father-in-law. Now I know you two don't always see eye to eye on everything and I know you're both stubborn as hell but GET OVER IT. Both of you need to grow up and quit being so pig headed with each other!"

They all watched in shock as she stormed off angrily, none of them believing that all of that fit and rage came out of a normally sweet and calm person.

"Wow…" Gus said, his mouth dropped open.

"Is it wrong that I found that totally hot?" Shawn replied.

"You've got issues," Gus replied.

"Gus, when you get yourself a hot woman and she explodes on you like that you'll understand."

Gus rolled his eyes when he suddenly noticed Detective Stone walking past. "Well Hello again Det-"

"Busy!" she said walking past him in a hurry.

"Dude, just give it up already."

"I don't give up Shawn! I'll get her just you wait!"

"In your dreams, Guster," Lassie replied as he hobbled off.

Henry and Shawn stood there in a silence for a minute before Henry spoke up. "Quite a wife you have there."

"Uh yeah she sure is….Look Dad, I really don't want to fight with you anymore. I just wanna know that we can work on a case together without biting each other's heads off."

"I know. I haven't been making it easy. I don't know it's just this whole thing has got me so damn rattled that it's like all of my senses and intuitions are numb."

"You sure as heck don't seem numb to me," Shawn replied.

"Well even if you're numb in other ways, worry always triumphs. It's one of the strongest feelings that can overtake your body. And…I admit I let it get in the way of using my better judgment. And I'm sorry for what I said earlier."

"Wow. Now I think my body is numb from shock," Shawn stated. "But I understand and I accept your apology."

Henry nodded. "Thanks, kid."

Shawn nodded and then looked around confused. "Where'd Gus go?"

"Uh obviously not taking no for an answer," Henry replied as he pointed over to Gus, who was standing next to Detective Stone.

"Gus!...Really?!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was now two days later as they all stood around the gravesite of Joe Martin, waiting for his coffin to be exhumed. As they all stood there silently, they were praying that something in it would give them some answers. There were no clues at the convenience store and nothing had been sent to Henry since he had gotten that DVD the week before.

"Alright, moment of truth," the Chief stated as the coffin was slowly being opened.

Shocked, their mouths hung open when they soon saw that there was nothing inside of it.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Lassie said.

"So in other words someone planted his body at the bomb site," Gus said.

"Yeah but who?" Juliet asked, confused more than ever.

"It's gotta be someone who knows him. How else would they know about me?" Henry pointed out.

"Okay well when we get back to the station we're going to look up every everyone and question everyone that is connected with him. And I want everyone on this. We need to catch this person before they strike again," the Chief commanded.

They all nodded and started to walk away when Shawn suddenly noticed something by the tombstone. As he zeroed in on it, he noticed that it was a diamond earring identical to the one he had found at the previous bomb sight.

Putting his hands up to his head he squeezed his eyes shut and started to shout. "I am sensing the bomber left us a clue!...Uh, ear…elephant ears…shiny ears…sparkling ears…"

"An earring!" Chief Vick suddenly realized.

Shawn pointed at her. "Yes! It's over here in this vicinity," he replied as he waved his hands about.

Lassie went over by the grave and picked it up when he saw it. "You were right, Spencer. And it's just like the one we found before."

"Good work, Mr. Spencer. Well we'll defiantly look it over for any prints or clues. But in the meantime we have a lot of investigating to do so let's head back to the station."

As they all started to walk off, Shawn's arm was suddenly grabbed by his wife and was pulled aside from everyone, a nervous smile on her face.

"Uh, am I in trouble? Wait, did I forget something? What's today? Oh man it's your birthday isn't it? Look I might be able to sneak away later for a quickie and some pizza but this case is gonna tie us up for awhile, Jules."

"No it's not my birthday, Shawn. And fyi, a quickie in the place of where I work is never gonna happen," she replied.

"Aw pretty please with cherries on top? I'll bring the whip cream!"

"Shawn! Just listen before I slap you!"

"I'm guessing you're not meaning that in the way I'm hoping you are," he stated, disappointed.

"Just listen. Okay, well, you know how I've been kind of having these mood swings lately? And how I've been really tired and sick off and on?"

"I'm not gonna be in trouble if I answer with a big fat yes am I?"

"No Shawn, but I went to the doctor to get checked out yesterday and-"

"Oh man it's the flu isn't it? Quick, go give Gus a big hug and then tell him afterwards, I guarantee you he'll be at his doctor's office within the hour."

"Shawn…"

"Yes, my beautiful flower?"

"...I'm pregnant."


	7. Chapter 7

"The A-Team…21 Jump Street…MacGyver…Knight Rider…Punky Bruster…Eight is Enough…LA Law…."

Henry suddenly looked up from his mound of paperwork when he suddenly heard his son coming towards his direction. Confused, Henry squinted at him soon noticing beads of sweat forming around Shawn's forehead as he was wringing his obviously nervous hands together over and over again. What on earth would be making him that much of a nervous wreck?

"Uhhhh, Shawn are you okay?" Henry said, as he walked by his desk.

Shawn stared ahead in a gaze and kept walking like a zombie, not making acknowledgements to anyone around him.

"Uh, he's in a bit of shock. He's been reciting eighties shows for the past half hour," Gus replied.

"In shock about what?" Henry asked.

Juliet hesitated a moment and then responded with a nervous smile on her face. "Well… You're going to be a grandpa."

Henry's eyes widned. "What?! You're- You're pregnant?!"

Juliet nodded eagerly as Henry tightly embraced her. For that glorious moment, no one was thinking of this horrible case or what might happen as they proceeded with it. One of the most joyus moments in life was upon them and that moment that would certainly be embraced to the fullest.

"Congratulations. Your child is gonna be certainly spoiled by their Grandpa," Henry said with a smile on his face.

"We wouldn't have it any other way," Juliet replied. "But maybe as your first grandpa duty you could talk to the father-to-be and bring him back to reality."

"Who's The Boss…Growing Pains…Cheers…Full House…The Cosby Show…Family Matters…"

Henry approached Shawn slowly with a slight chuckle suddenly remembering the anxiety and nervousness he had felt when Maddie first told him she was pregnant with Shawn. Given the career Henry had he experienced many moments of feeling overwhelmed, scared and nervous, but he had felt all of those things times ten when he found out he was going to be a father.

"Hey kid," Henry said slapping his back.

Shawn still stared ahead in a daze, this time nervously rocking himself back and forth.

"So I hear you're going to be a father."

Still nothing.

"Look, son, I know you're nervous and scared but you're going to be a great father. I mean I've seen how you take care of Gus. And the bottom line is I know you weren't expecting this and I know you're not ready, but when you first hold that baby in your arms and you look down at that sweet and innocent face that you helped create, I'm telling you it's the best feeling you could ever have. And you won't be alone. You and Juliet will help each other and that baby will be loved more than anything. Trust me, it's going to be okay."

As if something snapped, Shawn slowly came out of his daze and looked at his father. "You really think so?"

"Absolutly. And hey, me and Gus will help you all you want, so you guys will never be alone in this."

"I know…I just don't want to mess this up, dad."

"Well you may make some mistakes along the way, every parent does at one time or another, but I think you two are going to be terrific parents."

Shawn slowly nodded and smiled. "Thanks, dad. I guess I'd better go talk to Jules. I'm sure I freaked the hell out of her. Although not as much as she did to me."

"Hey, so is everything okay here?" Juliet asked as she slowly approached them.

Shawn smiled and took his wife's hands into his. "Yes, everything's perfect. I'm sorry I freaked out I'm just a bit terrified to say the least."

Juliet chuckled. "And you don't think I am? Shawn I know this was unexpected and it's something major, but we're going to be okay. This baby is going to have more love than it knows what to do with. And this baby couldn't ask for a better father."

"Well I don't know, cause they're sure going to have a terrific mother," he replied, as he gently stroked her hair.

"And a kick ass uncle!" Gus chimed in, putting his arms around them. "Man it's gonna love learning how to tap dance."

"Gus, you're not teaching our child how to tap dance," Shawn replied.

"Aw I think it'd be cute! Ohh, I bet they have little bitty tap shoes! I think I'm gonna go do some online shopping!" Jules said running to her desk, Gus following behind.

"But- it's only the size of a peanut right now!… Guys?! Really?!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was now five months later and things had been quiet on the bombing front, which seemed all too strange to Henry. Why would this person start all of this up, only to quit suddenly? Maybe something happened to them? Or maybe he was doing this just to torture him. Lord knows Joe Martin got plenty of laughs torturing Henry twenty years before and he wouldn't put it behind whoever was picking up his crimes to do the same thing to him now.

Suddenly papers flew off his desk as someone ran past him in a hurry. Annoyed, he looked up and saw it was none other than his son, rushing over to a pregnant Juliet with a bag of food in his hands. Henry chuckled at the image and soon remembered how many food runs he would have to do for Maddie while she was carrying Shawn. As he watched his son hand his wife the food he soon had to control his sudden urge to laugh as he saw her get up from her desk in a hurry, her hand over her mouth, and run towards the direction of the bathroom. Henry then got up and made his way over to Shawn who was standing there with a very confused look on his face.

"So I'm guessing Juliet didn't like what you had on the menu for lunch?" Henry asked him with a slight grin.

Shawn shook his head. "I don't get it. I got her a chicken breast sandwich with avacado cause I know it's one of her favorties, and she took one bite and her face went green!"

"Ah I see. Well welcome to the pregnant world, son. You did a rookie mistake and got her something she liked before she was pregnant."

"But, she ate it just recently…Oh wait, that was turkey and avacado!" Shawn said in relazation.

"So gathering from that, I would say that chicken is her worst enemy right now," Henry informed him.

"Hm. So that now makes it chicken, pork, steak, beans, onion rings, tacos, and cheese filled nachos so far that make her wanna vomit," Shawn replied.

"Uh Shawn, did you ever think of trying to get her healthy things to eat?"

"Well that's what the chicken and avacado was for."

"I see. And what these cheese stuffed fry things you always get is considered healthy?" Henry stated, as he held up a greasy bag.

"It's never to early for my child to learn about cheesy goodness," he said as he snatched the bag away from him.

"Yeah and if you keep going at this rate Juliet is going to be pushing out a twenty pound baby."

"Ohh do you think we'd make the Guiniess World Records?"

"Shawn, I'm saying try something called listening to your wife."

"That's sounds like a good idea," an approaching Juliet agreed in a shaky voice.

"Uhhhh, you okay, sweetie?" Shawn asked in a nervous tone.

Juliet responded by looking at her husband with a glare that could kill if it was possible. "Gee I don't know. Why don't you ask Gus? He probably didn't appreciate me throwing up all over his shoes."

Shawn and Henry looked behind them and noticed a barefoot Gus making his way up to them, who didn't look at all too happy.

"Uh hey, buddy, love the barefoot look it works for you," Shawn said, slowly backing away from him.

"Shut up, Shawn! I'm gonna kill you! Do you know how much those shoes cost me?! And puke smell doesn't come out of leather either!" Gus shouted.

"Oh Gus, I am so sorry," Juliet said. "I'll pay for you to get a new pair."

"No don't worry about it, Juliet. I don't blame you. I blame your husband," Gus replied, getting closer to Shawn.

"Why me?! I didn't hurl on your shoes!"

"Because she told me you gave her chicken! Don't you remember that chicken makes her sick, Shawn?"

"Wait, how did you know- ohhhh wait a minute, that taco I gave you the other day was a chicken taco wasn't it?"

Shawn swallowed nervously as his wife responded by glaring at him some more. "What do you think?"

"You owe me two hundred dollars, Shawn!" Gus said.

"Two hundred?! Dude, our cable keeps getting shut off cause we're low on money and you're spending two hundred dollars on shoes?!"

"I need nice shoes so I can make sales and get money we need, Shawn! It's called business," Gus replied, walking away.

Rolling his eyes Shawn followed him at a brisk pace, trying to plead with him. "Gus! Okay look I think I know a discount shoe place that might have knock offs. But we'll have to go at night and my name is Lassie and your name is Bud."

"Shut up Shawn! I'm going to my real work now and don't even think about following me!"

"But Gus! This is your real work!" Shawn replied.

"No it's not! In case you haven't noticed, our bomber hasn't done anything for months. And they haven't needed us for any other cases. So I'm going to my regular job that always pays me no matter what!"

Shawn ran to the bottom of the steps and watched as Gus ran over to the blueberry and looked confused as he searched through his pockets for his keys.

"Looking for these?" Shawn said, holding up his keys.

"Shawn! Give me back my keys!" Gus said, running up to him.

"Gotta catch me first!" Shawn replied starting to run up the stairs in a hurry, soon tripping and laying on his back in agony.

"Serves you right!" Gus said catching up to him.

"Ugh, Gus, help me up!"

"Why should I?"

"Cause you love me?" Shawn said with a grin.

Gus sighed and held his hand out for Shawn to grab, soon regretting it when Shawn pulled Gus down to the same spot. Gus then responded by kicking Shawn in the shins, as Shawn punched him in the shoulder.

"Ahhh! Mercy! Stop!" Shawn shouted as Gus gave another blow to his shins.

"Hell no, I ain't quitten til you give me my keys!" Gus replied as they rolled back and forth.

"You'll have to pry them out of my hands!"

They then both kept rolling back and forth on the steps, both trying to snatch the keys out of each other's hand. Among the caos, one of them managed to push the unlock button on it, not expecting for the next occurance that happened. As soon as they saw the tail lights flashing from it being unlocked, the sky suddenly filled with bright orange flames as the car exploded without warning. Barely having time to react to it, they both covered their heads as debris flew all over the place, some of which came down on them.

After a few moments, they both looked up and watched in awe and sadness as the blueberry slowly burned and disintegrated before them. They then heard the doors behind them burst open as half the poilice station came out to see what had happened and were suddenly approached by Henry and Juliet, who were in just as much awe as they were.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys alright?!" Juliet said leaning down to help her husband up.

Shawn brushed off some of the debris that had made it's way on him and stood up. "Yeah, I think so. Gus?"

Still staring at his beloved car burning to the ground, Gus nodded as Henry helped him up. "Uh yeah. What the hell just happened here?"

"I'm guessing it has to do with this. This was left on your desk, Henry," Chief Vick said, handing a manila envelope to him.

Henry's heart dropped to his stomach as he slowly took the envelope and opened it. He then pulled out a piece of paper, similar to the one he had gotten before with magazine letters being used to spell out the words.

"Dad, what's it say?" Shawn asked with concern.

Without a word, a quiet Henry handed it over to Shawn and Shawn too soon became quiet as he read the words on the paper:

**ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. AND YOU WILL TOO UNLESS YOU FIND ME DETECTIVE SPENCER. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN….**


	8. Chapter 8

"It'll be okay, Gus. She had a good long life and now she'll be bringing happiness to other's in car heaven…"

A sobbing Gus looked up as he rubbed his eyes. "You really think so?"

Shawn patted his back and nodded. "I do, buddy. Look we can even have a funeral for her if you want. I'll bring some blueberry smoothies and blueberry pie as tribute and we'll sing a little car song for her."

"Unless I haven't said it recently, you two are idiots," Lassie said coming up behind them.

"And you are a white version of Will Smith with those ears! Although there is one slight difference, he's hot and you're not," Shawn finished with a smirk.

"Yeah, well…I hope that baby keeps you up all night! And for a long time!" A flustered Lassie replied, walking off.

"Ya might wanna brush up on your comebacks there, Mr. Smith!" Shawn shouted back to him.

"Okay well we didn't find any fingerprints on any part of the car or any clues, so like the other bombings we again have nothing to go on. I'm just so thankful neither of you were in the car." Juliet said, coming up to them.

"You and me both. Maybe we're not looking in the right places. I mean we've searched for Joe Martin's relatives, but what if it's someone who didn't even know him? They may have just known about the case and my father, and wanted to do something to him cause they had a vendetta against him for something. Which frankly isn't a big stretch where my father's concerned."

"That's a good idea. I'll go talk to your dad and see if he might know some people we can look up. Oh, and I want some mint chocolate chip ice cream when you get a chance," Juliet stated.

"Uh, but honey didn't you just throw up?" Shawn asked in a cautious tone.

Stopping suddenly, Juliet turned around and got within inches of Shawn's face. "Look, sweetie, I know you're just looking out for me but I know what I can handle and if you don't have a pint of mint chocolate chip on my desk soon then you're going to be sleeping in the yard with the sprinklers on tonight, got it?"

Shawn swallowed a giant lump in his throat and nodded. "Got it."

Juliet smiled with satisfaction and made her way over to Henry's desk to talk to him.

"Well it looks like it's a trip to the store on the old bike," Shawn pointed out to Gus. "Ya with me, pal?"

"I can't. I don't know if I'll ever be able to travel again," Gus replied.

"But Blue would want you to move on with your life, Gus," Shawn said.

"She's not even cold yet, Shawn! I'm leavin!" he replied walking towards the front door.

"Gus! Aw come on man! This isn't healthy!" Shawn shouted at him. "Man, I've about had it with people today!"

Shawn shook his head in disbelief as he suddenly heard laughter coming from his father's desk. He looked over and saw Henry talking to an older gentleman who seemed to be making his father and his wife laugh uncontrollably.

Curious, Shawn made his way over to them, wondering what could possibly be so funny while they were still in the midst of trying to solve one of the most serious cases that had come to Santa Barbara in awhile.

"Hey, uh, what's going on?" Shawn asked as he timidly walked up to them.

"Shawn hey! This is my old partner, John Baker. He worked with me twenty years ago on the Santa Barbara Bomber case and I thought maybe he would be of some help this time around, too," Henry explained.

"Now wait just a dog gone second here, don't tell me this is your boy, Henry. Why the last time I saw you, you were just a little thing full of questions and observations!" John said.

"Well other than being a bit taller, I'm afraid nothing's changed," Henry replied.

"Uh yes well, good to see you again, John. Say, have you met my beautiful wife?" Shawn said putting his arm around her.

"Well I don't believe we've been properly introduced," he said as he shook her hand.

"I'm Juliet. And this is our soon to be little bundle of joy," she said, rubbing her baby bump proudly.

"No way! Henry Spencer is gonna be a granddaddy?! Get out of here!" he replied, putting his arm around Henry.

Henry laughed and nodded. "Yup. Can't wait."

Shawn watched both of them as they continued to talk and roughhouse like old friends tend to do, when a gold stud suddenly fell to the floor which rolled across the floor and landed at Shawn's feet.

"Uh, I believe one of you lost an earring," Shawn stated as he picked it up. "And unless you suddenly became someone oddly different dad, I believe this belongs to you, John."

"Aw thanks, man. I swear, earrings aren't my friend. I don't know how many of them I lose at a time. I just can't seem to bring myself to stop wearing em. It's one thing that can drive women wild. Especially biker chicks," he said nudging Henry. "Well hey just ask your son here. Obviously he's a bike man himself!" he said, pointing to Shawn's motercycle helmet in his hands.

"Uhhhh, yeah but I already have my beautiful lady," Shawn replied with a nervous chuckle.

Juliet looked up at him, less amused. "Ice cream. Now."

Shawn nervously cleared his throat. "Yes, dear."

John laughed as Shawn made his way past them. "Boy oh boy do I remember those days…."

Shawn rolled his eyes as he exited the building with relief. Between the craziness of this case and his wife, he wouldn't mind if he ever had to come back to that place again. He then suddenly saw the burnt spot on the pavement where the Blueberry used to be and sighed. So many memories… He just couldn't believe how this case was turning out. It seemed to act like a roller coaster as it went back and forth between different things. First the letter and DVD, then the explosion at the coffee house, then the lake, and the convinience store, then Joe's skeleton and empty coffin, then months in-between and now suddenly the demise of Gus's car. There had been absolutely no clues, except for the diamond earrings, which ended up leading to a dead end as well.

Like a tired robot Shawn made his way over to his bike, when suddenly something popped into his head:

"_Aw thanks, man. I swear, earrings aren't my friend. I don't know how many of them I lose at a time…."_

Suddenly it all started to make sense. Joe not having any family, yet personal details being known about his father and the previous case twenty years ago, the diamond earrings that were found at both crime scenes…

"Oh god…" Shawn said, suddenly running back up the stairs and into the building. He frantically looked around and panicked when he saw no sign of his dad or John around the station.

"Shawn, you couldn't have gone to the store that fast," Juliet said, walking up to him.

"Jules, where did my dad and John go?" Shawn asked frantically.

Confused, Juliet shook her head. "I don't know. I saw them head downstairs a minute ago. I think your father was giving him a tour of the place since he hadn't been here for awhile."

"Okay, I need your gun," Shawn said, holding out his hand.

"What?! I can't just give you my gun, Shawn. What's going on?"

"Look, my dad might be in trouble and I need a gun."

"Okay, well I'll just follow you then," she said getting her gun out.

"No. You're gonna go sit. I don't want you anywhere near this guy," he replied.

"Near what guy? Who are you talking about?"

"Jules, just trust me. Now I'm not putting you or our child at any risk. So just give me the gun and I'll explain later."

"So our child's father is supposed to be putting himself at risk?!"

"Jules, right now my father is with a very dangerous man and I'm not just going to sit back and do nothing. So either give me the gun or don't, but either way I'm going."

Juliet sighed and after hesitating a moment, slowly handed him over her gun. "Fine. At least take Carlton with you."

"Jules-"

"Shawn, please. I don't want you going alone."

"Alright fine. Lassie! I need you!"

"I'm busy, Spencer! Go bug someone else!" Lassie shouted from his desk.

"Carlton, please just go with him! Please just trust me!" Juliet pleaded.

Looking a bit stunned, Lassie got up from his desk and joined them. "Alright, what's going on?"

"I think my dad's in trouble, and we need to find him," Shawn said, worried.

"In trouble? With who?"

Shawn hesitated a moment, then slowly answered. "I think his friend John is the copycat bomber."

Both shocked, Juliet and Lassie both let out a unanimous "What?!", soon waiting for an explanation to follow.

Not having time to give one, Shawn signaled Lassie to follow him. "I'll explain later just trust me. Now come on!"

"Wait!" Juliet said stopping him. "Be careful."

"Always," Shawn replied.

They then kissed each other before Shawn parted from her in a hurry, Lassie following behind as they ran around looking and listening for anything that might help lead them to Henry. After several minutes, a frustrated and worried Shawn punched a file drawer closed and hung his head down, feeling defeated.

"Hey, hey calm down. We'll find him. Let's keep looking, he's gotta be around him somewhere," Lassie said.

Finding Lassie's unexpected words suddenly reassuring, Shawn took a deep breath and nodded. As he looked around he suddenly saw something that caught his eye and gave him a ray of hope- his dad's watch was laying outside of the interrogation room.

"Lassie!" Shawn whispered, pointing to the watch, knowing his dad had dropped it on purpose.

Lassie looked at it and then at the room and nodded, as they both quietly headed up to the door, guns in hands and on the count of three made their way into the room.

Shawn's heart nearly stopped when he saw John suddenly grab Henry and put a gun to his head, prompting Lassie and Shawn to raise theirs and point them at him.

"Drop it!" Lassie shouted, as he turned the safety off his gun.

"You first, Detectives," John said, as he steadily held the gun on Henry.

"In your dreams," Lassie replied.

"Do it, or I finish him," John said, suddenly turning the safety off on his gun.

"Lassie, just do it please," Shawn pleaded, as he slowly set his gun on the ground.

After a brief hesitation, Lassie followed his orders, soon feeling helpless without his most prized possession.

"Okay, now let's just relax," Shawn said. "John, I know you don't want to do this."

"Shut up! Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't do! I hate that more than anything!"

"Which is why you started this whole thing. You found out that my father was working here again. Then when that freak bombing happened at the coffee house on the exact same day as when the original bombings first started you couldn't resist yourself," Shawn explained slowly.

"Damn right I couldn't! I worked day and night on that damn case and who do they recognize for all their hard work and dedication to the case?! Good old Henry Spencer. And not one single word about me. I was never good enough!"

"So you decided to make him look bad by making it to where he couldn't catch you," Shawn stated.

"Damn right! And I fully cooperated even when Henry called me to come down for help. But then this always oh so brilliant detective figured it all out, just from the littlest clues that no normal person should've been able to get!"

Shawn slightly sighed. He really was his father's son. "Okay, fine, I get that you're upset. Now let's talk about this calmly."

"I ain't talkin about nothing! I'm done talking! You're just like your father. A snooty little know it all. I'M the one that killed Joe Martin! I got there before that building exploded and I found him on the ground having a heart attack! It was perfect. All I had to do was make the building explode and no one was the wiser. But who gets all the credit for working so hard on the case? Good ol' Henry Spencer! Never me! Well I'm sick of all of you Spencers. In fact, maybe I should start with you first, Mr. Psychic," John replied suddenly pointing the gun at Shawn. "I'm going to do that baby of yours a favor and give it a chance at a normal life."

"Uh, wait! What about the skeleton?" a nervous Shawn asked trying to stall.

"Just a little reminder of who stopped one of the most wanted criminals in Santa Barbara. ME and NOT HIM," he replied pointing towards Henry. "And now if you're finished with twenty questions Mr. Psycic Detective, you're about to join our little bomber in hell!"

As he was about to pull the trigger, a sudden gunshot and burst of glass filled the room as Shawn, Lassie and Henry dove to the ground for cover, soon noticing blood, and wondering in horror of who it might belong to. They all got up slowly, realizing that it was coming from John and the fresh hole in his head.

All three of them looked behind them and saw Juliet standing behind what was left of the two way mirror, gun in hand, with satisfaction and relief on her face.

"O' Hara?" Lassie said in shock.

"For the last time, it's SPENCER!" she shouted as she walked in the door.

A bit frightened, Lassie took a step behind Shawn. "Uh, got it."

"Jules, I thought I told you to stay up there. What if he had shot towards you?" Shawn asked.

"He wouldn't have gotten me, I was fine. But I'm glad I got here when I did, cause it looked like you were about to be his next victim," she replied.

"Well I must admit, that was kind of hot, the whole shooting through the glass thing. You could totally be one of those movie spies," he said wrapping his arms around her.

Juliet smiled. "Why thank you. Maybe after the baby is born, grandpa or uncle Gus can baby-sit and I can model my spy outfit for you."

"Ohhh… I can't wait," he replied as he gave her a kiss. "So wait, how did you get another gun if I have yours?"

"Oh please, Carlton has one stashed in almost every drawer of his desk."

"You took one of my babies?!" Lassie said, grabbing it from her. "Oh, this is LuLu. She's my favorite. Come on, let's go put you back where you belong," he said walking out of the room.

Looking a bit disturbed, Shawn and Juliet looked at each other and shook their heads. "He definetly needs to be in a padded room," Shawn said.

He then noticed as his father looked down at John with a combination of anger and sadness. Anger at what he had become, and sadness of losing who he used to be.

Shawn slowly made his way over to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as Henry continued to look down at John laying in a pool of blood. "Hey."

Snapping out of his trance, Henry replied back. "Hey."

"Look, dad I'm sorry. I know he was one of your best friends."

"I just never suspected…Ah but hey, what are we gonna do? I guess you can't always judge a book by it's cover."

"No, I guess not," Shawn agreed.

"Thanks for…well you know."

"You're welcome. I can honestly say when I saw the gun on… well, let's just say it's a moment I hope never happens again," Shawn said.

"Well now you know how I feel after you've gotten hundreds of guns pulled on you," Henry pointed out.

"Touché," Shawn replied as he gave his father a pat on the back.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was now three months after all the bombing craziness and things were finally back to normal. Gus even got a replacement car that they now called Blueberry Jr., and it came quite in handy with doing more of Juliet's multiple food runs. Henry and Shawn both received praise from the mayor for them catching the copycat bomber and both their work schedules were now back to normal.

Shawn sighed with happiness as he sat and ate lunch with Jules, who was only a month away from delivering. They both decided to wait and be surprised to see what the sex of the baby was, of course not without getting armature guesses based on tricks and observations from others. Whichever the baby was however, they would love it unconditionally and couldn't wait to teach it what they knew.

"Say, where's Gus?" Juliet asked as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"Eh, probably annoying some doctor with his sales tactic while he wears his two hundred dollar shoes," Shawn replied.

"Uh, not exactly," Juliet replied, giving a nod to something behind Shawn.

Shawn suddenly spun around to see what she was looking at when he groaned with annoyance. As usual, Gus was at Detective Stone's desk making a complete fool out of himself, while she looked like she was going to shoot him at any second.

"Gus! Come on man, you're the reason why sexual harassment policies are created!" Shawn shouted as he went over to him. "Now leave her alone."

"You ain't my boss," Gus said, pulling his arm back from Shawn's hand.

"Yeah but I have gun and I'm not afraid to use it," Detective Stone replied, getting inches away from his face.

"Mm. You smell divine," Gus replied.

"Okay, buddy time to go!" Shawn said, forcing Gus away from her desk.

As they started to walk away, Shawn suddenly noticed a newspaper clipping on her desk about John and him being killed. He also noticed Detective Stone wiping her noticeably red eyes, giving Shawn even more confusion.

"Shawn! Quit treating me like a five year old!" Gus said as they approached Juliet's desk.

"Well quit acting like a five year old player!" Shawn replied.

"I'm a grown man, I'll do whatever I want, Shawn, so suck it!"

"Alright gentleman, that's enough. Our baby doesn't need to hear it's daddy and uncle fighting with each other," Juliet said rubbing her belly gently.

"Sorry," they both said hanging their heads down.

"Spencer! I need you for a second!" Lassie shouted from his desk.

Suddenly, Shawn, Juliet and Henry all stood up at the same time, looking confused as they all looked at Lassie.

"I meant, Juliet!" Lassie said in frustration. "Good god talk about a nightmare."

"Well hello Mr. Spencer and Mr. Guster," the Chief said, as she came out of her office. "Is there a case I'm not aware of?"

"Uh no, I'm just having lunch with my lovely wife," Shawn said nervously.

"I see. And what about you, Mr. Guster?"

"Uh, I just needed to tell Shawn something."

"I see. Perhaps that you still won't leave Detective Stone alone?"

"Uhhh….Sorry Chief. It won't happen again."

"It'd better not," she said, giving him a look.

"Uh, so, you still coming to our baby shower tonight, Chief?" Shawn asked, trying to divert the subject.

"Absolutely," she said. "See you then."

They both nodded nervously as she slowly walked away. "Dude, I'm getting the hell out of here," Gus stated.

"Right behind ya buddy!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Two days later, the gang all gathered at their favorite pizza place for a coed baby shower. They had rented the party room upstairs and had ordered mounds of pizza and soda, which was all on a long table sitting next to the mounds of baby presents.

"Carlton, I am not giving my baby a toy gun!" Juliet said holding up a plush toy gun.

"Hey they gotta learn sometime!" Lassie said.

"That's okay, I don't think it could be any worse than giving it a pacifier in the shape of a police badge," Shawn replied as he looked over at Henry.

"Hey at least my thing doesn't cause violence!" Henry stated.

"Oh whatever, Spencer!" Lassie said.

"Why don't you come over here and say that?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa….Alright, everybody cool it! Let's just eat now shall we? I get dibs on the pineapple and pepperoni!" Shawn said running over to the food table.

"Uh Shawn, don't you think you should serve your wife first?" Gus said.

Shawn then looked over at his wife, who was indeed giving Shawn one of her looks. "Uh, I was just kidding honey! What kind would you like?"

"Oh gee, I don't know, how about some pineapple and pepperoni?" she said.

Shawn nodded as he put a couple slices on a plate for her. "Anything for my beautiful bride!"

"Say when's the Chief supposed to get here?" Gus asked.

"Oh she text me and said she had a flat tire so she's gonna be a little late," Juliet replied.

"Ohhhh, I see you invited my beautiful lady," Gus said looking out the window.

"What are you talking about?" Juliet asked, confused.

"I'm talking about Detective Stone. She's down there by the entrance," Gus said pointing out the window.

"I never invited her. I barely know her," Juliet said confused.

"Then why's she here?" Gus asked.

Juliet shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me. Maybe she's eating here with a friend."

As she sat down to eat, Shawn couldn't help but stare at Detective Stone, getting a weird feeling that he couldn't explain come upon him. He couldn't seem to shake the feeling ever since he saw her with that newspaper article and her bloodshot eyes. Something just didn't seem right about it, and he had a feeling that her being here wasn't a coincidence either.

"Hey dad, can I ask you something?" Shawn asked.

"Sure," Henry said, with a mouthful of pizza.

"Did John have any close relatives?"

Confused, Henry sat his pizza down and turned to face Shawn. "I think he had a mother and a sister who used to live around here. But they both died years ago. Why?"

"Uh, just wondering. It's probably nothing," Shawn said as he started to walk over to the pizza table.

"Oh wait, I forgot he does have a daughter," Henry said taking another bite of pizza.

Shawn stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

"Yeah a daughter. He mentioned her a few times. I think she might've been around the same age as you."

Dropping his plate, Shawn suddenly ran back to the window in a flash and looked down at Detective Stone who looked right up at Shawn and grinned an evil grin towards his direction. Shawn then noticed something blinking in her right hand and watched in horror as she held it up and gave Shawn a wave.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Shawn shouted, as he ran away from the window.

But before Shawn or anyone else could escape, a happy Detective Stone watched from across the street, grinning with satisfaction as the building suddenly exploded and collapsed to the ground...


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for the reviews so far everyone! You all are wonderful! Keep them coming they help inspire me!:-)**

**xxxxxxxxx**

"_Whoa, did you see that explosion dad?! That was so cool!"_

"_Shawn, that's on TV, it's make believe. Explosions are dangerous. People can get seriously injured or even killed in them," Henry explained as he sat down next to his young son._

"_So why do people make things explode then?" Shawn asked._

_Henry shook his head. "I don't know, kid. There are just some people in this world who aren't happy with who they are so they like to take it out on others. And it's my job to try and stop those people, which is why I want you to be a cop too when you grow up. Cause there'll be more people doing stuff like this then too. It's something that sadly will probably never end in this world."_

"_I just don't understand how people can do those things."_

_Henry sighed. "Me neither kid…"_

"Spencer! Spencer can you hear me?! Spencer!"

That voice…whose voice was ringing in his ears? And what was that awful smell? Was this a dream? Maybe if he just rolled over and….the PAIN….the sudden undeniable pain he suddenly felt shot through him like a cannon. Why was he in so much pain? He needed to try and open his eyes, then perhaps he would have some answers.

He then slowly pried his eyes open and started to see things…odd things. Nothing but smoke and dust and debris everywhere. What was this? Was he in a nightmare that he couldn't get out of? Wait, where was Jules? He needed his wife to reassure him that everything was going to be alright and he needed to see that she was alright. But he couldn't sense or feel her presence next to him. Maybe she wasn't near him… maybe if he just called out to her….

"Mmmmm….Jules? Where-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he erupted in a coughing fit, and with each cough made it feel like a bunch of sharp knives stabbing his insides. What was happening to him? He couldn't remember a single thing that had happened.

"Jules?" he called out again in a raspy voice.

"Spencer, it's me. Can you hear me?"

Shawn blinked his eyes a few times and looked over to where he heard a familiar voice coming from and soon saw Lassie crouched down over him, blood pouring down his face and dust all over him, but managed to somehow scrounge up a compassionate look on his face as he looked down at Shawn.

"Lassie? What- what happened? Where are we? Where's Jules?"

"Whoa whoa calm down, Spencer. I was actually hoping you could explain things to me. I mean one minute we're shoving pizza down our throats and the next you're yelling at us to get out. And now… well, here we are," Lassie explained, looking around the demolished building.

"I honestly don't remember. Was I looking at something?"

"Yeah you were looking out the window."

Shawn thought for a moment trying to remember anything he could. The window… why was he looking out the window? Was it a guy or a girl or… wait a minute, Detective Stone! She was there, she had something blinking in her hand…_she _made the building explode and that's where they were now.

"Oh god, it was Detective Stone," Shawn shared with Lassie.

"What? You must've gotten hit in the head hard, Spencer. Why would she make a building we were in explode?"

"Cause she was John Baker's daughter."

"What?!"

"Trust me, I know it's a bit of a leap but she is. You gotta just trust me on this one, cause I don't have the energy to explain it further, Lassie."

"Okay…well, we need to start finding a way to get out of here," Lassie said, looking around.

"Wait, where's Jules, Gus and my dad?"

Lassie hesitated a moment and shook his head. "I don't know."

Trying to hold back the tears that suddenly formed, Shawn stayed quiet for a moment and then spoke up. "Well we've gotta find them. We can't just sit here!"

"Don't worry, Spencer. We'll find them. But first we need to see if you're even okay enough to go on a search."

"I'm fine," Shawn replied. "Just help me up."

Lassie then held out his hand for Shawn, who slowly took it. He started to bring himself into a sitting position, when a massive amount of pain shot thought his stomach, bringing him back down to a laying position.

"Ohhh god…." Shawn said, clutching his stomach.

"You're in no condition to be searching for anyone," Lassie pointed out.

"No I'm fine. I have to find my wife, my best friend and my father and nothing's going to stop me. Now help me up or I'll find a way to do it myself."

Realizing that Shawn could be as stubborn as he was sometimes, Lassie again held out his hand to help Shawn up. Shawn slowly accepted his hand and ignoring the pain, managed to bring himself to a standing position. He then suddenly felt some pressure towards the middle of his thigh and looked down to see a tie wrapped around his leg and knotted tightly.

"Why is your tie wrapped around my leg?" Shawn asked him.

"Because you were loosing a lot of blood. Something must've stabbed you in your leg," Lassie answered.

Shocked at how nice Lassie was being to him, Shawn slowly nodded as he looked at it. "Thanks, Lassie."

"Well, I didn't feel like watching you bleed to death. I figured the only way you'll die by me is if I strangle you to death out of frustration."

Shawn smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Now let's go find the others."

"You got it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Explosion after explosion. Why couldn't they be stopped? What was going on? He spent night after night day after day trying to stop him…this building and that building…people being hurt and killed…when was it going to end?_

"_Catch me if you caaannn…." _

Henry suddenly awoke with a jolt. It was just a dream…only to be woken up to a nightmare. What happened? Who did this and why? John was dead, who else could have done this? And why to them?

Them…Suddenly it dawned on him that others were there too. Others including his son, his daughter-in-law and his grandchild…oh no, the baby! Where was Juliet?

"Oh god, let her be okay. Juliet?! Shawn?!…Anybody?"

Sighing in disappointment at the silence that followed his shouts, he then slowly stood up, soon feeling a wave of dizziness and an extreme amount of pain in his right arm. Figuring it was broken, Henry shrugged it off as best as he could and looked around, hoping and praying he would find someone nearby.

"Shawn?! Juliet?!"

He then stopped a moment when he heard a noise, followed by a slight groan. Feeling a ray of hope he followed the sound and soon witnessed something that brought tears to his eyes. Juliet was laying on her back, barely a scratch on her, all thanks to Gus, who used his body to shield hers. Suddenly ignoring his pain, Henry bolted over to both of them and knelt down by their side, praying they were both alright.

"Juliet?! Gus?! Can you hear me?!"

Juliet slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Henry with a look of confusion and then pure horror when she saw what had happened around them.

"Oh god, what happened?!" she said.

"Just relax, you're going to be alright," Henry said, reassuring her.

Tears soon filling her eyes, she raised her head in a panic. "Where's Shawn?!"

Trying to hide how worried he was, Henry shook his head. "I don't know."

She then put her head back down on the ground and covered her face as she silently sobbed with worry, when suddenly something else registered in her head.

"Wait, my baby! Oh my god, is it going to be okay?!"

"I think it's going to be fine, thanks to Gus here. Gus? Can you hear me?" Henry said putting his hand on him.

Gus groaned slightly and slowly opened his eyes. "Mmmm…what happened?"

"There was an explosion. And apparently you were quite the hero," Henry explained, pointing towards Juliet's bulging stomach.

Gus suddenly rose up, a bunch of debris falling off of him and held the back of his head in agony. He didn't have to be a doctor to know that he had a concussion.

"Are you okay, Gus?" Juliet asked.

"Yeah I think so. What about you guys?" Gus asked.

"Well my arm has seen better days, but other than that I'm fine. How are you feeling, Juliet?" Henry asked.

Juliet shook her head. "I don't know. I think I'm okay. Is my baby going to be okay?"

Henry nodded. "It doesn't appear that anything touched your stomach. Do you feel any pain at all?"

"I don't know," Juliet said. "I feel weird….Ahhhh! Oh god, I'm having really bad pains…are you sure everything's okay?"

"Okay, is it okay if I examine you?" Henry asked.

Juliet nodded, blinking away more tears as Henry slowly pushed her legs apart, and soon widened his eyes in horror at what he saw before him.

Noticing his look Juliet's head shot up. "What? Is something wrong?!"

Looking up at her Henry hesitated a moment before answering. "Uh, Juliet-"

"What? What's wrong?!" she asked him hysterically.

"…Your water broke."


	10. Chapter 10

"You've gotta be kidding me! Please tell me you're joking!" Juliet cried hysterically.

Henry shook his head. "No, I'm not. Those pains that you're feeling are probably contractions."

"But, I can't have my baby in here!"

"Just calm down. We might be getting out of here before that happens," Henry said. "Now I'm going to go see if I can find Shawn and Lassiter and see if there's a way out of here. Gus, you stay with Juliet in case anything happens."

"Uh, but I don't know anything about delivering babies!" Gus said.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight! I am not delivering my baby in this dump! I'm delivering it in a hospital with my husband at my side and with lots of drugs. Got it?!"

Gus and Henry both took a step back and nodded in sync as Juliet started screaming again in agony. How could this have happened? The one thing she's most looked forward to in her life was going to happen in one of the worst ways possible. And as much as she hated to admit it, she knew without a doubt that she was going to give birth there, unless they found a way out as quickly as possible.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So you're telling me you can't go in there?!"

A firefighter stood before an angry and worried Chief Vick and nodded. "I'm sorry Chief but we need to make sure that there are no more explosives in there. We go in there and set one off and it's bad news. And I'm not going to risk my men until I know for sure what we're dealing with."

"Well excuse me, but while you're not wanting to risk your men, five of my employees and close friends are trapped in there and I'm going to do everything I can to get them out. So if there's something else going on in there I want it found and I want it found quick, do you understand me?!"

"Don't worry, we're going to do everything we can. I promise," he replied walking away.

Chief Vick sighed as she looked at the crumbled building before her. As happy as she was that she wasn't in there, she also felt guilt. If only she hadn't blown that tire, she would be in there with the people she cared about and not out there worrying herself sick over the thought of never seeing any of them again.

The Chief buried her face in her hands, trying her best not to let anyone see her emotions when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and smiled, happy to finally see a familiar face.

"It's going to be okay, Chief. We'll get them out of there."

The Chief smiled a half hearted smiled and wiped the tears away that were threatening to fall. "Thank you, Detective Stone."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You know I had a dream once where I was in a pizza parlor that had exploded. But instead of all this, it was all the pizza you could get your hands on. I would kill for that right about now." Shawn said slowly walking over the crumbled building around them.

"Do you always have to be an idiot, Spencer?" Lassie asked as he walked beside him.

"I don't always have to be no. But do you always have to be the way you are?"

Confused, Lassie stopped suddenly and turned to look at Shawn. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"I mean always acting like people are bothering you and not enjoying things like normal people would."

"Simple. That's because people do bother me. And I have as much fun as I see fit."

"You make me sad," Shawn replied.

"Oh can it, Spencer! In case you haven't noticed a building fell on top of us and I don't particularly feel like having a counseling session right now! Is there a reason you always have to act like a moron?"

Hesitating a moment, Shawn looked down at the ground and back at Lassie before answering. "Because I need to keep my head clear in order to find my family and if I let myself think about what happened, then I'm going to fall apart. That explanation enough for you?"

Lassie sighed, suddenly realizing the amount of pain Shawn must be in. As much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn't know what to do if they didn't find the other three. Things just wouldn't be the same and he couldn't deal with a loss like that in his life.

"I'm sorry. Let's just keep looking," Lassie said starting to walk ahead. "Maybe there's something beyond these bricks, so let's head this way, alright?...Spencer? Are you listening to-"

As Lassie looked behind him he saw a pale looking Shawn clutching his torso and bending over while groaning in pain. He raced over to him and helped him steady himself, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to do anymore searching in his condition.

"Look, why don't you stay here while I go search? You're in no condition to go any further."

Trying not to let the pain show on his face, Shawn shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"Let me look at you at least," Lassie insisted.

"Lassie, I told you I'm-"

But before Shawn could finish his sentence, he suddenly collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat.

"Spencer! Damn it Spencer, I told you- oh my God…."

Lassie's mouth dropped open as he lifted up Shawn's shirt and saw deep bruising along his stomach and towards his rib cage.

"Lassie…." Shawn said between shallow breaths.

"Yeah?"

"Tell Juliet, Gus, my dad and my child that I love them."

Feeling his heart drop into his stomach, Lassie froze for a moment before responding. "You can tell them yourself. You're not going anywhere, Spencer you hear me?!"

"Please just promise me you'll tell them," Shawn insisted in a quiet raspy voice.

"No, you're going to tell them, not me," Lassie replied, grabbing a hold of Shawn's hand.

"Please Lassie…."

But before he could finish what he was saying, Shawn soon gave in to the darkness that overcame him and only heard the sounds of Lassie shouting his name before he succumbed to it.


	11. Chapter 11

"Ow! Son of a bitch!"

As Henry carefully made his way through the rubble, he still couldn't seem to make it through without running into something or something falling on him. He rubbed his leg that he had just hit on a piece of metal and continued through the disastrous mess. As he made his way though, he felt like he couldn't breathe partially due to the ashes and dust he was inhaling and partially due to the intense fear of not finding Shawn alive. He felt like this was a never-ending nightmare and that he was partially at fault for everything. Because of his case and making his ex-partner feel the way he did, he had now put people he cared about in danger. Nevertheless, nothing was going to stop him from getting them out of here, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

"Shawn?! Lassiter?!"

Henry lowered his head at the gut wrenching silence, praying that would soon change….

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"UHHHH! GUS!"

A sweaty and nervous Gus turned and looked at Juliet, whose contractions were coming closer and closer together. Gus had been in many hospitals and doctor's offices with his job, but one thing he would never get used to was sick people, injured people, dead people, and especially women giving birth.

"Uh, just breath I'm sure Shawn and Henry will be here any second," Gus said, sitting down beside her.

Juliet suddenly grabbed Gus's shirt and pulled him within inches of her face. "Gus, I can't do this! I can't have a baby in a demolished building! We need to find a way out of here!"

Carefully removing her hand from his shirt, he nervously agreed. "Trust me, I know. And I'm sure there are people who are going to rescue us at any second now so we need to try and stay calm."

"Calm?! CALM?! How can I stay calm?! My husband is missing and I'm getting ready to deliver our baby in this crap hole! Not to mention pushing a watermelon out of my area isn't relaxing AT ALL!"

"Uhhhhh….Maybe I could sing a song," Gus said backing away slightly.

"If you even sing one note I won't hesitate to throw this brick in a way where you won't ever be able to have children!"

"Um, okay, I'm just gonna go sit way over there then," he replied, swallowing the nervous lump that had formed in his throat.

"Oh God! Gus it's coming!"

"What do you mean it's coming?"

"I mean I can feel the baby coming…can you look and see if everything is okay?"

"What?! You must be out of your damn mind! I ain't looking there!"

"But Gus I need you! You're the only one here and you're this baby's uncle! So please help me," Juliet pleaded, with worry in her eyes.

Gus hesitated a moment and slowly approached Juliet, soon sitting at her feet. "Okay, what do I do?"

"Look and see what's happening down there!"

Wiping the nervous sweat from his brow, Gus slowly pried her legs apart, soon giving away that something wasn't right with the look that came upon his face.

Concerned, Juliet lifted her head up and looked over at Gus. "What's wrong? Can you see something?"

"Nothing's wrong, but I'm almost positive that this is going to be your baby's birth place unless we can get out of here soon."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Spencer? Spencer come on wake up…"

As Lassie looked at Shawn lying there pale and unconscious, an unfamiliar feeling soon came upon him. A feeling of worry and panic, something he usually never allowed himself to feel, and something he never thought he would feel with Shawn. Sure Shawn has made some things in his life complicated and lord knows there have been plenty of times where he got on his last nerve. But he just couldn't imagine life without him in it. As much as he hated to admit it, Shawn Spencer was one of his closest friends and someone who was damn good at solving crimes and helping people, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that he didn't lose him.

Suddenly a feeling of hope washed over him as he saw Shawn starting to stir, a good sign if he ever saw one. "Spencer? Can you hear me?"

"Uhhhhhhh….. Well that wasn't one of my finest moments," Shawn replied as he slowly woke up.

"Look, I'm gonna go see if I can find anybody or at least a way out of here," Lassie said standing up.

"Lassie please don't leave…" Shawn pleaded in-between shallow breaths.

"Spencer, if I don't find some help soon you're not going to make it. You have serious internal injuries, you've lost some blood and you probably have a couple of broken ribs and you need to get to a hospital."

"I don't care about me, I just want my wife. I need Jules…"

Lassie sighed and nodded. "I know. Trust me, I want to find her, too. Look, I promise you I won't be gone long. Just hang in there."

"I'll do my best…"

As Lassie watched him lay there struggling to stay alive, he couldn't help but feel a lump form in his throat. Promising himself he wouldn't let his emotions get the best of him, he choked back his tears and stood up, giving Shawn one last look before he turned to leave. At that moment, everything he had ever wished for in his life seemed so petty and unimportant, as for now he wished more than anything that him and his friends would be able to come out of this alive and have this be an event that they overcame together. All he could do was do something he hadn't done in awhile- pray and hope that the people he cared most about would have another chance. Just one more chance….


	12. Chapter 12

"The bombing happened just after 6:00 pm and so far there's been a confirmation of seven people being inside. One of which was the owner of Angelo's Pizzeria, a cook and five others who are employees of the Santa Barbara Police Department. At this point we don't know how many survivors there are, but we'll inform you with more as the story develops…."

Chief Vick shook her head with an exhausted sigh as she looked over at the news media who were surrounding the scene like vultures. Her head felt like it was in a vice, throbbing at a constant rate. She couldn't stand the waiting and the unbearable thoughts running through her head. What if they were all dead? She wouldn't be able to handle that and if she even tried to she would break soon after. As much as those five drove her nuts at times, they were her family and one that she couldn't bare to lose.

"So, any word yet?"

In a daze, the Chief turned around and came face to face with Detective Stone. "Uh, no. Nothing yet."

"I'm sorry. I mean I didn't know them as well as you did but they all seemed like such nice people. Even Mr. Guster," she stated with a fake smile.

"Yeah they're all very special indeed. I just hope and pray they make it out of there soon…."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Trying to catch his breath, Henry stopped for a moment and leaned up against what was left of a wall. Numbness had combed over his aching body and he felt completely frustrated and terrified that he hadn't found any sign of the other two. All he knew that when this was all over he was going to live his life to the fullest and try to take life a little more lightly, especially with his son, realizing that perhaps he had been a bit to harsh on him during his life, thus being the reason that they weren't as close as what a father and son should be with one another. But that was going to change, he was going to make sure of it. But first he had to find his son and pray that he was okay.

"Shawn?! Lassie?! Can anyone hear me?!"

Barely able to get the last of his words out, Henry started coughing violently to the point where he felt like his lungs were going to explode, wishing more than anything for a giant glass of water at the moment. As soon as he was able to compose himself again, he continued on his search hoping it would soon be over.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Damn it!"

Lassie cursed in frustration when he suddenly tripped over a piece of rubble and landed hard on the pile of debris below him.

"Ah! My shoulder!"

He grabbed his left shoulder with agony written all over his face and soon realized he had landed on a sharp piece of a broken brick, which more than likely dislocated his shoulder.

"Great, like this couldn't get any worse," he said as he managed to start walking again.

As he made his way along while rubbing his newly injured shoulder, his heart suddenly stopped when he saw a hand beneath everything. For a moment he stood there frozen in place, not wanting to face whoever it might be. After a moment he gathered up enough courage and slowly started removing the ruble piece by piece, his body shaking with fear. He then got down to the last brick that was covering the face and with a deep breath removed it slowly, only to reveal Mr. Angelo, the owner of the restaurant they were in.

Lassie collapsed to the ground, covering his face with his hands, letting the tears of relief stream down his face. After a moment he wiped his eyes and leaned over to check on the man lying before him. Lassie sighed with a bit of disappointment when he felt no pulse. Realizing he needed to keep going, he slowly got back up and gave one last look at the innocent fallen victim who lay there, hoping that he wouldn't find any of his friends the same way.

As he slowly continued on his way, he stopped suddenly when he heard what sounded like shouts coming from the other side of the mound of debris and bricks that lay before him. Unsure if it was real or just his mind playing tricks on him, he got a little closer and listened closely only to hear a muffled sound of someone shouting. But who?

"Hello! We're in here!" he shouted as he banged on the wall.

Lassie listened once more and soon got startled when a brick was pushed towards his direction, creating a hole to allow him to see what was on the other side.

"Hello? Who's there?" Lassie asked as he peeked through.

Suddenly seeing Henry's face appear before him Lassie nearly fell backwards. "Geeze, Spencer you nearly gave me a heart attack! But I admit, I'm extremely glad to see you," he admitted as he caught his breath.

"Yeah me too," Henry shouted through the hole. "Where's Shawn?"

Lassie paused for a moment, not sure how to bring up the fact that his son was right on death's door. "Uh…he's back there a little ways. Where are Juliet and Gus?"

"They're fine they're back there a little ways too…but uh-"

"But what?"

"Juliet's in labor," Henry finished slowly.

"What?! And you left her?!"

"No I didn't leave her! Gus is with her! And I could say the same about you leaving Shawn behind! And why did you leave him behind, why isn't he helping you?" Henry asked in a worried tone.

"Uh, I just thought it'd be easier if I just went to look for help alone," Lassie replied nervously, trying not to look at Henry.

"Lassiter, you're not telling me the truth now where is my son?!"

Hesitating for a moment, Lassie swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and answered. "Alright…I had to leave him behind because he's not doing well."

Henry froze and his eyes soon widened with fear. "What do you mean not doing well?"

"Well he has a lot of internal injuries and possibly internal bleeding…and well…if we don't get out of here soon I don't think he's going to make it…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Laughing…running…playing… Shawn couldn't get enough of it as he held his beautiful wife in his arms and watched as their son and daughter played together. It was one of the most joyous things Shawn never thought he would experience in his life, but now that he had it he couldn't imagine his life any other way._

"_Okay kids, time to go inside!" Juliet yelled at them._

_Shawn stood there and smiled as he watched Juliet gather up the kids and slowly walk into their house. As the kids ran inside, Juliet soon turned around with a single tear falling down her cheek as she stared into Shawn's eyes with sadness._

"_Don't leave us, Shawn…We need you… Please hold on…."_

_Confused, Shawn then watched as Juliet made her way into the house, and watched as the house suddenly disappeared before his very eyes._

"_Wait a minute! What's going on here?! Jules?! Jules come back! NO!"_

Suddenly Shawn woke with a jolt, realizing it was all just a dream. He was still stuck in the hellhole he was in and was still in an extreme amount of pain that wouldn't go away. As he tried to shift his body to a more comfortable position, he soon realized as the pain shot through him that that wasn't an option. He was stuck and unless someone found him soon, he was afraid that this would also be the place he died in_._


	13. Chapter 13

"Just keep breathing slowly…You're doing good Juliet…"

As Gus held Juliet's hand he didn't know how he had the strength to stay so calm. Normally situations such as this had him a nervous wreck to the point where Shawn would usually have to smack him upside his head to get him to calm down.

Shawn…Through all the baby excitement Gus felt guilty for briefly not thinking about him. But now that he had, he felt fear and sadness at the thought that he might not have survived this horrible blast. What would he do without him? He would no longer have someone to solve crimes with or get in trouble with or go on spur of the moment taco runs with. Worst of all, he wouldn't have someone to confide in when he was having troubles of his own. He was lucky to have Shawn in his life, as most people didn't have a best friend who was like family to them like he did. All he could do now was pray for the best and help deliver his best friend's child, knowing if it was lucky it would have the same qualities as Shawn.

"Gus, this isn't right. Shawn needs to be here," Juliet said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Trying to hold back his own tears, Gus agreed. "I know. I'm sorry. But Henry is looking for him and I know Shawn is stubborn. He'll be here soon I know it."

Juliet answered with a sudden scream, nearly squeezing Gus's hand right off. "Gus, I don't know if I can wait anymore…"

Worried, Gus gently let go of her hand and went in front of her to examine her. "Okay…uh I hate to tell you this but it looks like you're going to be having this baby pretty soon."

"No Gus! I can't! Not without Shawn!"

"Juliet, listen we don't have a choice. You have to start pushing!"

"No…"

"Look, I know this isn't how you wanted to bring your baby into this world, and I know you want Shawn here, but right now we have no choice. And if Shawn were here right now he would tell you to do what's best for the baby, am I right?"

"Yes, but-"

"But nothing. Juliet, the baby is coming, you have to push!"

Juliet caught her breath and sat into a pushing position, still wishing that Shawn was beside her. "Okay…I'm ready…."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Which way do we go now?!" Henry asked in a panic.

"I don't know, just give me a minute to think, Spencer."

"A minute?! We don't have a minute! You just told me my son is dying! Now get me over to him!"

"Alright just calm down! I'm pretty certain it was that way," Lassie said, pointing to his left.

Ignoring everything around him, Henry sprinted across the fallen bricks and debris hoping and praying that they would get to Shawn in time. If his son died he would never forgive himself. And he made it his solemn vow right then and there that he would stop at nothing to find out who did this to all of them and make them pay dearly for it.

"Shawn?!…Damn it, where is he?!"

Feeling like his hope was draining, he stood there for a moment trying to collect himself. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he suddenly heard a faint noise coming from his right. As he looked over the room, he nearly burst into tears when he saw his son lying on the ground just a few feet ahead of them.

"Shawn! It's okay we're here now, son," Henry said as he knelt down beside him.

Barely able to keep his eyes open, Shawn looked up at his father, suddenly feeling like a child. He couldn't stand the pain he was in anymore and having his father next to him made him feel oddly comforted and safe.

"Dad?"

"I'm here, son. It's going to be alright. We're going to get you out of here just hang in there," Henry reassured him.

"Uh, Henry can I talk to you for a moment?" Lassie said, leaning down next to him.

Without saying a word, Henry got up and walked over to where Lassie was standing. "What?"

"Look I want to get him help too, but how are we supposed to get him out of here? I have a dislocated shoulder and you have a broken arm," he pointed out.

Henry sighed. What were they going to do?

"Look, I don't know but we have to figure out something. I mean he's in bad shape and his wife is in bad shape and I intend to get both of them out of here and I don't care how we have to do it!"

As they both sat there and pondered their next step they both became alerted to a sound behind the wall of bricks in front of them. Both rushing over to it, they put their ears up to it and listened to hear what sounded like someone screaming. They both suddenly rushed into action, pulling bricks apart as the adrenaline rushed though their bodies. After what seemed like forever, they both nearly burst into tears when they saw Juliet and Gus on the other side looking back at them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"No, no comment," the Chief said, rushing away from the reporters. "When will this nightmare end?"

Rubbing her tired and irritated eyes, she sighed as she looked up at the building once more, not knowing whether the people she cared about were dead or alive and wondering how much longer it was going to take before she would be able to find out.

After a few minutes her thoughts were answered when the fire chief came sprinting up to her. "Okay, there doesn't appear to be any other bombs so I'm sending my men in. We should have your people out soon."

"You mean if they were able to survive the last five hours you just wasted looking for something you knew probably wasn't in there?!" she shouted before walking away in frustration.

As she watched the dozens of firefighters make their way inside the building she prayed that they would find them alive, not being able to bare the thought of seeing any of the people she cared about come out in a body bag. Slowly she folded her hands after wiping her tear stained eyes, and looked up at the night sky above her. As she stared at the sparkling stars, she sighed a quivering sigh and began to speak.

"Okay so I know that I don't do this very often like I should, but this is one time I really need to. So whoever's listening to me, please be with the people I care about. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them. Please just get them out of there safely. They're not yours to have yet, they still have things to do down here you hear me?! Please just let them stay…Please…"

As she spoke her last words she gave in to her emotions and let herself release the worried tears she had been holding back for so long. As for right then and there she was no longer a police chief; she was a person who more than anything wished for the people she cared about most to be safe and most importantly alive...


	14. Chapter 14

"Henry?! Carlton?! Thank God you're both alright! Where's Shawn?!" Juliet asked between her heavy breathing.

Henry and Lassie both looked at each other, both hesitating before they answered. "Uh, he's right behind us," Lassie stated.

Noticing the weird looks on their faces, Juliet and Gus both looked at each other and back at Henry and Lassie.

"Guys, what's going on?" Gus asked.

"Well…Shawn's not doing so well. We need your help to get him over to you guys," Henry said.

"What?! What do you mean not doing well?!" Juliet asked.

Avoiding her question for the moment, Henry spoke up. "Gus, we need your help."

"Alright, but what about-"

"I'll be fine for a minute. Please just help my husband," Juliet pleaded with him.

Nodding, Gus got up in a flash and climbed over the debris ahead of him, soon feeling relief when he saw his best friend. Relief then soon turned to worry, however, as he noticed how pale and frail Shawn looked as he lay there. As he carefully made his way over to him, he fought back the tears that threatened to fall, hoping and praying that he would make it.

"Hey buddy," Gus said, kneeling down beside him.

"Hey," Shawn replied in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"We're going to get you out of here, you know that right?"

"Yeah."

"Just hang on," Gus said, squeezing his hand.

"If I do get out of here can we go get some big greasy hamburgers and tacos afterwards?"

Gus smiled. Leave it to Shawn to see the good ahead of him, even when he was at death's door. "You know that's right."

Shawn managed to crack a smile as Gus stood up and looked over at Henry and Lassie. "Okay, so how do we do this?"

"Well you're going to hold Shawn's legs, while I hold on to his upper body with my left arm and Lassie with his right," Henry replied.

"Uh, and why are we doing it that way may I ask?" Gus asked.

"Isn't it obvious? My right arm is broken and Lassie's left shoulder is dislocated," Henry pointed out.

"Oh I see. Well, let's do this then," Gus said, leaning down at Shawn's feet.

As Lassie and Henry positioned themselves, Henry leaned down by Shawn's face. "Okay Shawn, now we're going to lift you and take you over there by Juliet. Are you okay with that?"

"Mm…Jules…" Shawn said in-between his ragged breathing.

"I'll take that as a yes," Gus replied.

"Okay guys, on the count of three," Henry said, getting into position. "One…Two…Three!"

They all three then lifted Shawn off the ground carefully and slowly but surely made their way next to a screaming Juliet.

"Oh God it's coming!" she screamed. Pain soon then turned into a moment of happiness when they lay Shawn beside her, which soon turned into worry when she too, saw how frail he looked. "Shawn? Can you hear me?"

That voice...That beautiful voice...How he had been longing to hear it...

"Jules? Is that really you or am I dreaming?" he asked, managing to open his eyes.

"No, it's really me. I'm here Shawn," she replied, grabbing hold of his hand.

"Mmmm...You're so beautiful."

She paused for a moment as she stared at him, glad that he was there but worried more than anything at how frail he looked. This wasn't how this was supposed to be. She was supposed to be in a comfortable hospital bed with her husband by her side, cracking jokes and most of all supporting her, not this. Not giving birth in a building that could collapse at any given moment. Not watching as her husband lay beside her on death's door. Why did this have to happen to them?

Juliet collected herself as best as she could and spoke to her husband, trying not to lose it in the process. "Shawn?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm having our baby. You're going to be a daddy soon," she informed him in-between heavy breaths.

"What? You're….you're in labor?"

"Yes. Not the best place I know, but at least you're here beside me now," she said.

Rushing in front of Juliet, Henry looked, realizing that his grandchild was about to join them. "Okay, now Juliet this is it. I need a big push from you. I know you can do it. Now PUSH!"

Squeezing her husband's hand, she sat up and with all her strength pushed again for a few seconds and layed back with exhaustion. "I can't do this anymore," she stated.

"Now Juliet I know you've been going at this for awhile, but this is it. One more push and the baby's out. You can do this I know you can. Now PUSH!" Henry told her.

With all that she had in her, Juliet leaned forward and gave one last big push, soon followed by the wonderful sounds of a crying baby. A smiling Henry then cut the umbilical cored with his swiss army knife and gently placed the baby in her arms.

"Juliet and Shawn, I'd like for you to say hello to your beautiful daughter," he said smiling down at them.

Shawn managed to lift his head up and grinned from ear to ear when he saw her. "She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he replied.

Wiping her tears, Juliet nodded. "I know. She's perfect."

"What are you going to name her?" Gus asked.

"I don't know. What do you think, Shawn?" she asked looking over at him. "Shawn?"

Joy soon turned into panic as she looked over at her husband who had fallen back into unconsciousness.

"Shawn?! Oh my God, what happened?! Shawn can you hear me?! Shawn?!"

Worried, Gus went over by Shawn's side in a flash and examined him, soon followed by a worried expression on his face. "We need to get him out of here."

"Why what's going on?!" Juliet asked in a panic.

Gus hesitated and trying to stay calm himself answered. "He's barely got a pulse. If we don't get him out of here soon he's not going to make it."


	15. Chapter 15

Dust flying everywhere…bricks and debris being thrown about…Henry was going to stop at nothing to try and get his son out of that mess, even if it meant breaking his other arm. The more he dug for a way out, the more numb he became to the things around him. It was all about getting his son to safety before the risk of losing him forever, something Henry wouldn't be able to live with.

Suddenly Henry felt a hand on his shoulder and for the first time in twenty minutes he had stopped was he doing and turned around only to see Lassie standing behind him.

"Look, we should be getting rescued at any second. And I don't think you're going to be able to make that wall come down no matter how hard you try," Lassie pointed out.

"I can't give up! My son needs to get out of here!" Henry said.

"I know, but as much as I hate it, we're trapped. All we can do now is wait and pray that someone finds us soon. And what if by some chance he doesn't make it? Do you want to spend the last moments you could've spent with your son throwing bricks around?"

Henry stopped dead in his tracks as he let his mind take in what Lassie had just told him, realizing he was right. Giving a simple nod, Henry made his way over to Shawn and sat down beside him, taking a hold of his hand and looking down at him as he had done so many times before when he was a child.

"Shawn, if you can hear me we're going to get you out of here. You just have to hang on a little bit longer…Please don't leave us," Henry said, choking up on his last words.

For a moment they all sat there in silence, silently letting the tears stream down their faces, worried that Shawn wouldn't be with them much longer. Even Lassie found himself wiping away a tear or two, as he stared at the scene before him.

As Juliet lay there holding her beautiful daughter, she wiped her tear soaked eyes with her hand. She didn't know what to feel. She was overwhelmed with joy at their new little bundle, but was scared out of her mind that her baby would grow up without her father.

She squeezed Shawn's hand and turned her head to look over at him. He didn't even look like the Shawn that she knew and loved as he lay there looking broken and helpless. "Please don't leave us. We need you…"

Suddenly the baby started to cry, prompting a confused Juliet to cry as well. As he wiped his own tears away, Gus made his way over to her and held out his hands. "Here, I'll take her, Juliet."

Not having any objections, she handed the baby over to him, who wrapped her in his arms, trying to keep her warm. As he looked down on her, he smiled as he saw how much she resembled both Shawn and Juliet, and wondered the things they were going to teach her. Juliet would teach her the in and outs of being a strong independent woman and Shawn would teach her to not take life so seriously all the time. As Gus rocked her back and forth, he prayed for Shawn to get through this so his daughter would have a chance to know her father.

Suddenly breaking the silence after a few minutes, Juliet sat up slightly and spoke. "Is it cold in here or is it just me?"

Confused, Henry, Gus and Lassie looked at one another. "Uh no…It's pretty warm in here actually. Are you okay?" Gus asked.

Wrapping her arms around herself she laid back on the floor. "I don't know, I feel weird."

"Weird how?" Henry asked.

"I don't know I just feel…I feel…"

The three men then watched as Juliet's eyes closed and she laid on the floor motionless. Without another thought, Lassie and Gus rushed over to her and knelt down by her side.

"Juliet?! Can you hear me?!" Gus said looking down at her.

"Is she breathing?!" Lassie asked in a worried tone.

Placing his fingers on her neck and leaning his head down beside her mouth he nodded. "Yes. She's breathing and still has a pulse. She must've just passed out."

"But from what?" Lassie asked, confused.

"I don't know. I mean she did just give birth," Gus replied.

"Yeah but women don't usually pass out right after doing that! Something else is wrong!"

"Uh guys, look at her legs. They're covered in blood," Henry stated. "My guess is she lost a lot of blood when she was in labor and between that and the exhaustion from having such a hard labor in this crap hole, her body gave out on her."

"So what can we do to help her? There's gotta be something!" Lassie shouted.

"She needs fluids and a blood transfusion. Things we can't do here," Henry explained.

"Wait, so now you're telling me she might not make it either?!" Lassie asked.

"If we don't get rescued soon, then…yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying," Henry said, looking down at both of them.

Feeling like his heart was being ripped apart, Henry looked down at his son and daughter-in-law as they lay beside each other, hoping and praying that his new granddaughter wouldn't become an orphan and that he wouldn't lose two of the most important people in his life.

For several moments they all sat there in silence, trying not to let any of the others see the tears that were falling down each of their faces as they each said a silent prayer for Shawn and Juliet. How could any of them possibly go on in their lives if those two weren't around to share it?

After a few moments their silence was broken when they heard a noise and suddenly saw a pile of bricks coming at them. As they all backed away, they looked over at the wall that had kept them prisoner for so long and felt intense hope and happiness as they saw it come halfway down, only to reveal a member of the rescue squad looking back at them.

"Hey guys!" he said looking through the hole they had just created. "Just hang tight. We'll have you out of here real soon…"


	16. Chapter 16

Air…Something usually taken for granted now felt like the most wonderful thing as everyone was being taken outside one by one. As soon as the Chief witnessed them starting to come out of the demolished building, she released the nervous breath she felt like she had been holding for the past seven hours and found herself running over to them, never having been so happy or relieved in all her life.

The first ones to make it out were Lassie and Gus. Both covered in dust, dirt and blood she was in awe after looking at the building that they both made it out with only a few cuts and bruises.

"Thank God you guys are okay!" she said, pulling them into an embrace. "You have no idea how scared I've been."

"Ow! Chief, I'm glad to see you too, but do you think you might be able to loosen your grip just a touch?" Lassie said.

"Oh my god, of course I'm sorry," she replied immediately pulling back. "So where are the other three?"

Hesitating, Lassie and Gus looked at each other and then back at the Chief, who saw the immediate worry in their eyes.

"What? What's going on? Oh God, please don't tell me they're-"

"No they're not," Gus interrupted.

"Thank God," she replied, breathing a sigh of relief. "So where are they? What aren't you two telling me?"

"Well…Juliet went into labor and gave birth," Gus said.

"What?! Are she and the baby alright?!"

"Well, the baby is…but she ended up passing out. But she just needs some blood and fluids and she should be fine," Lassie explained.

Pausing a moment to compose herself, the Chief continued. "I see. And what about Shawn and Henry?"

Wanting to answer, Gus opened his mouth to speak but soon found the words to be lost. He could barely convince himself that his best friend was dying, how was he going to find the words to tell someone else?

Noticing how upset he was, Lassie patted Gus on the back and in his own shaky voice explained what happened to the Chief. "Well Henry is fine, just a broken arm but Spencer- I mean, Shawn, isn't doing so well."

"What do you mean not doing well?" the Chief asked as her mouth dropped open.

"Well, he has some internal injuries, a couple broken ribs and he's lost a lot of blood from an open wound he received. He was in and out of consciousness for quite a few hours and has been completely unconscious for the past hour and…we don't know if he's going to make it or not," Lassie finished in a shaky tone.

Not knowing what to do or say, Chief Vick stood there in shock. How could this be happening and why? None of them deserved to have this happen to them, especially Shawn and Juliet. They just started a new life together and now have a child, and all that could be taken away because of one person. And a person whom she had no idea of. She did however know that she would stop at nothing to find out who it was, and that they were going to pay dearly for what they had done if it was the last thing she did.

The Chief was suddenly jolted back to reality when she heard shouts and cheers from the crowd that had gathered around, and soon saw why. Two of the rescue workers slowly made their way out of the building holding Shawn and Juliet in their arms, followed by Henry, who was craidling his new grandchild in his good arm. It was the most bittersweet thing she had ever witnessed in her life.

She then watched as Juliet and Shawn were immediately each placed on a stretcher, soon being surrounded by emts who began working on them immediately. She watched as a worried Henry looked down on both of them, soon arguing with another emt who wanted to examine him.

"I'm fine, just leave me alone. I need to be with them!"

The Chief found herself walking over towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He suddenly turned around and looked at her without saying a word.

"She's beautiful," she said looking down at the baby. "She's lucky to have you as her grandfather."

Henry nodded. "Yeah and I'm lucky to- to have-"

Not being able to finish the words he wished to speak, Henry suddenly collapsed into the Chief's arms as he sobbed. "I can't lose him, Karen…I can't lose my son…"

The Chief held him for several minutes as he cried, trying to hold back her own tears. Why do bad things always have to happen to good people? It was one of those unfortunate questions that would never have an answer, though she wished it did.

After a few moments, Henry slowly lifted his head and wiping the tears from his face, finally spoke. "I'm sorry, Karen. I don't know what got into me I just-"

"Henry, you're not superman. You don't have to act brave all the time. You need to allow yourself to be human every once in awhile," she replied. "Now go be by your son. He needs you. And I'll hold on to this little bundle of joy if that's okay with you."

Henry nodded and gently placed his granddaughter in the Chief's arms. He then made his way over to the ambulance that Shawn was in, only to get stopped by an emt.

"Sir, you need to be examined," they pointed out to him.

"I'm fine," Henry replied.

"But sir-"

"Look, I said I'm fine! Now I'm going to go be with my son, if you want to examine me in that ambulance be my guest, otherwise leave me the hell alone!"

Leaving the stunned emt behind, Henry made his way over to Shawn's ambulance, his heart soon ripping apart all over again when he saw the oxygen mask on his face and tubes coming here and there out of his arms. Henry gently took Shawn's hand into his, trying to compose himself as he looked down on him.

"I just want you to know that you have a beautiful daughter. There's so much of you and Juliet in her. And I know she'll be one of the smartest, strongest kids, because that's what you both are. Please just hang on, kid. I need you to show me that strength right now more than ever."

Making sure everything in place, the emt banged on the window in-between them and the front. "Okay Frank, let's go!"

Not budging, Henry suddenly felt a jolt as the ambulance started to speed away towards the hospital, hoping they would make it in time. And as he looked at Shawn, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see the emt standing above him.

"You know, you really should let me examine you," he stated in a stern voice.

"I'm fine. I can wait til we get to the-"

Henry was soon interrupted when he heard Shawn's heart monitor suddenly starting to beep like crazy. As the emt rushed over to him, Henry suddenly became numb all over again, feeling like he was in a never ending nightmare.

"What's going on?!" Henry asked.

"He's gone into V-FIB," the emt replied as he continued to do chest compressions on Shawn.

Suddenly the nightmare increased when Henry heard a sound that no father wants to hear- Shawn's heart monitor flat lining.

"Oh God…." Henry replied as he watched in shock.

Working fast, the emt emerged with two large paddles, briskly rubbing them together and placing them above Shawn's chest. "Clear!"

Henry then watched as his son jumped a few inches off the stretcher, still followed by the horrifying sound of him continuing to flat line. Determined, the emt rubbed the paddles together again and jolted Shawn a second time. Still nothing.

Letting the tears flow freely down his face, Henry couldn't believe what was happening before him. His son who was usually so strong and full of life was now fighting for it.

"Come on son, FIGHT!" he said in a choked up voice.

Then suddenly as if he heard him, Henry heard one of the most rewarding sounds as Shawn's heart monitor began to beep normally once again, prompting Henry to nearly collapse to his knees in gratitude.

"Thank you, Lord…Thank you…."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"Mmmm…Gus?"

Sitting by Juliet's side in the ambulance, Gus took her hand and looked down on her. "Welcome back. You had us pretty worried there."

Still weak, Juliet squinted as she looked up at Gus and replied in a voice, barely above a whisper. "Am I in an ambulance or am I dreaming?"

"No, you're not dreaming. We got rescued just a little bit ago," Gus replied.

"Thank God...Where's my husband and my baby?"

"Calm down, they're fine. Shawn's on his way to the hospital right now and Chief Vick has your baby, who will be going to the hospital at any minute now, too."

"Oh okay...But why am I hooked up to all these different things?" she asked, looking at the tubes coming out of her arm.

"You needed fluids and you're going to be needing a blood transfusion once you make it to the hospital," Gus explained.

"Okay…"

Gus then watched as a confused Juliet slowly drifted off into unconsciousness again, praying that she and Shawn were both going to make it through this.

Xxxxxxxxx

"Well, everyone is now on their way to the hospital, except for you, Detective. And may I ask why that is?" the Chief asked, folding her arms.

"Look, they gave me a sling and patched me up. I'm fine," Lassie replied.

"That may be, Detective but let's get one thing straight. I'm not allowing you to return to active duty until you get a complete examination just like everyone else."

"Fine, I'll go later, but I need to tell you something rather important, Chief," Lassie replied anxiously.

"Can't it wait?"

"No it can't."

The Chief sighed then nodded. "Alright make it quick, Detective."

"Have you seen Detective Stone around here?"

Confused, the Chief shook her head. "Not recently, why?"

"Because she's the one responsible for all of this," Lassie said pointing to the building they had just come out of.

"What?! Why on earth would you think that?"

"Well, Spencer told me he saw her outside of the building right before the explosion."

"So? That doesn't prove anything, Detective."

"Chief, she's John Baker's daughter."

"What?" the Chief replied, stunned. "Are you sure?"

"Look, I know I've had my differences with Spencer over the years, but I trust him this time, Chief. I'm telling you, she's the one who did this to us."

Chief Vick slowly nodded, still in shock. "Okay. I'll bring her in."

"I'll help you," Lassie replied, as he started to follow her.

Spinning around, she got inches away from Lassie's face and replied. "I don't think so. The only thing that you're going to do is march right over there to that ambulance and go to the hospital, or I will be suspending you for a month. Got it, Detective?"

Lassie nodded quickly then turned to walk over to the ambulance waiting behind him. Shaking her head in disbelief, the Chief kept walking, her heart suddenly dropping to her stomach and her body filling with rage when she saw Detective Stone suddenly approaching her.

"I got us coffee!" she said holding up two coffee cups. "I got yours with two sugars, just how you like it. It's so great that everyone got out okay. Our prayers sure were answered!"

Giving her a look that could kill, the Chief slowly accepted the coffee, not taking her eyes off of Detective Stone for a second. "Yeah you could say that."

Noticing how upset the Chief was, Detective Stone got a confused look on her face. "What? What's wrong?" she asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"Oh you know, I was just thinking that we don't know much about one another. Like for instance, why don't you tell me who your father is, Detective?"

For a moment both women stared at one another, soon followed by Detective Stone suddenly throwing her scalding hot coffee on the Chief's front and running away in a hurry.

Screaming in pain, the Chief composed herself for a moment, then grabbing her gun out of her holster and proceeded to chase after her.

As she ran around the corner into the ally she had witnessed her running into, the Chief cautiously held her gun out in front of her, looking for any signs of the Detective and wondering if she would have enough restraint to keep from blowing her head off once she found her.

She kept slowly walking til she suddenly came to a graffiti filled wall at the end of the ally way. Turning around, she looked around again and was about ready to search elsewhere when she suddenly felt someone pushing her into the wall with great force, causing her gun to fly across the ground.

The Chief then listened in horror as the safety of a gun went off in her ear, soon feeling the end of a pistol pressed into the side of her head.

"You'd better say a quick prayer, Chief, cause you're about to meet your maker."


	17. Chapter 17

_Breath in…Breath out…Breath in…Breath out…_ Suddenly a simple thing such as this seemed very much forgetful as the Chief stood there frozen, having no idea what to do or say next.

"_Juliet went into labor and gave birth…"_

"_He was in and out of consciousness for a few hours and has been completely unconscious for the past hour and…we don't know if he's going to make it or not…"_

"_I can't lose him, Karen…I can't lose my son…"_

As she stood there everything raced through her mind…What was said, how she felt not knowing whether they were dead or alive for hours, then seeing the people who mean the world to her come out of that destructed building broken and fighting for their lives. And now she was in Detective Stone's path of destruction, feeling helpless and numb, but wanting more than anything to take her down for what she did to the people she cared about most.

Suddenly finding the strength she needed, Chief Vick took a deep breath and managed to speak. "Why did you do this?"

Pausing for a moment, Detective Stone stood there in silence before breaking it with a sudden bone chilling laugh. "Aw come on now, Chief. You're a smart woman. Obviously you already know why."

"No, I don't know why. Why on earth would you want to endanger innocent people's lives?!"

"Innocent?! INNOCENT?! I'll tell you who's innocent! My father, that's who! He constantly got underappreciated when he was part of the police department and was always made to feel like he was beneath Henry Spencer! And after hearing about it for so long from my father and hearing how upset it made him, I decided to take matters into my own hands," she replied, pressing the gun harder into the Chief's head. "When my father told me that Henry was working at the police station again and I saw that anniversary date of when Joe Martin was killed coming up, it called out to me. It was up to me to change things. So I got in touch with my boyfriend who owned a coffee house and-"

"You made him blow up his own business just to get Henry's attention," the Chief finished.

"You get an 'A' in 'Guess the plot', Chief," she said with an eerie calmness.

"But why warn everyone at the coffee house but not any of the other places you blew up?"

"Because I like to have my fun at a slow and satisfying pace. Sitting there and watching Henry squirm like the worm he is when he watched that news report was the ultimate high. And then sitting there and watching while all of them tried to save themselves in that abandoned building was indeed priceless. My father and I worked well together I must say. Though none of our incidents were nearly as satisfying as this last one. I just wish he could've been around to see it unfold. And it looks like your so called brilliant psychic won't be around to give you his readings anymore. What a shame. I guess Henry can now feel what it's like to lose someone you love! And then I'm going to make sure his death is slow and painful, just like how he has made me feel ever since my father was killed!"

As she clenched her fists, the Chief took a deep breath. The moment that breath escaped from her, was when something suddenly snapped within her. Without giving it another thought, she found herself stabbing Detective Stone's foot with the pointy heel of her shoe. Screaming in agony, Stone backed off of the Chief and hunched over in a great deal of pain. Finding her next opportunity, the Chief took her clenched fist and made direct contact with Detective Stone's face, making her fall to her knees.

Noticing the gun still in her hand, and not knowing where hers was, the Chief found a broken piece of a wooden bored and raised it above Detective's Stone's head, when she suddenly felt her hand grasp around her ankle. With a strong pull, the Chief was brought down to the ground, soon feeling the gun in middle of her forehead before she had a chance to catch the wind that was knocked out of her.

"Well, well, well. That was a very nice try chief," she stated, getting within inches of her face. "But you're not going to win this round. Any last words?"

Suddenly grinning, the Chief replied. "Yeah, enjoy seeing your father in hell."

Confused, Detective Stone didn't have a chance to respond before a gunshot rang out and she suddenly collapsed on top on the Chief, blood spilling out from beneath her.

The Chief looked past her and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lassie standing behind her, his gun still in his hand. "I've never been so happy to see you, Detective," she said, as she pushed Detective Stone's lifeless body off of hers.

Holstering his gun and reaching out to help her up with his good arm, he nodded in agreement. "I'm just glad I got here in time."

"Well as glad as I am that you came back, may I ask why you are here? I thought I told you to go to the hospital and go get checked out," she replied, wiping the dirt off her clothes.

"Well I started to, but then it suddenly clicked in my head that if she was the one who set off the bomb, then she probably stuck around to see how everything played out. And plus she wanted to kill all of us, but you were the only one that managed to not get creamed inside that building, which probably pissed her off big time. So I came back to look for you and saw the empty coffee cups on the ground, and a trail of it going towards this way, and well now here we are," he explained.

"I see. And how did you get the gun?"

Pulling it out of his holster he handed it to her. "Well, it's actually yours. I found it over there by the dumpster."

Giving a slight chuckle she nodded and proceeded to place it back into her holster. "Well thank you, Detective."

"You're welcome."

As they smiled at one another, all silence was broken when the sound of a click was heard. Without thinking, the Chief took out her gun and pulled the trigger, the bullet soon finding its way into a weak Detective Stone's forehead, making her fall backwards to the ground and thus ending her reign of terror against the Santa Barbara Police Department.

"Rot in hell you crazy bitch," the Chief replied.

"I don't know about you, but I could use a drink or two," Lassie said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Sounds good to me, but first, let's go get you checked out and see how everyone else is doing. Especially Mr. Spencer," she stated with a worried sigh.

Lassie nodded. "Yeah definitely. Let's just hope our prayers have been answered."


	18. Chapter 18

One minute…Two minutes…Three minutes… The time seemed to go by slowly as Henry sat in the waiting room of the hospital, staring at the clock and trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. As long as he kept staring, he didn't have to let himself think. He didn't want to think about the possibility that a doctor could come out any minute and tell him that his son was gone forever.

Henry's eyes suddenly diverted from the clock to the elevators, soon seeing Chief Vick and Lassie walking through them. Without saying a word, Henry diverted his attention back to the clock, not wanting to talk to anyone, knowing if he did he would have to allow himself to feel what was happening.

Sitting beside him, the Chief put her hand on Henry's shoulder and spoke. "Hey. How are you doing?"

"How do you think?" Henry replied, not moving.

Lowering her head, she stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "Any word on Juliet, Gus, the baby or Shawn?"

"Gus is fine, he just had a minor concussion. Juliet is getting the proper care she needs and is doing better. The baby has been looked over and is doing just fine. And….I haven't heard anything about Shawn yet," he replied, trying not to let the shakiness in his voice be heard.

The Chief nodded. "And you?"

"If you're asking about my psychical self, I'm fine. I just have a broken arm and a few cuts that they had to stitch up. If you're asking about my emotional self, well that isn't something I wish to discuss right at the moment."

"Okay, that's fine. But you should know that we got the person who did this to all of you," she replied.

"What?! Well who was it?!" Henry asked, taking his eyes off the clock and directing them towards the Chief's direction

"It was Detective Stone. She was John's daughter. She and he cooked up everything that had happened within the past few months together. And when he got killed, well, that's when she went ballistic and tried to kill all of us," Lassie explained.

Henry stood there stunned for a moment before startling everyone by grabbing one of the chairs with his good arm and throwing it against the wall, breaking it into several pieces. "I should've seen it! I should've been able to figure it out!"

Shooting up from her chair like a cannon, the Chief ran over by Henry's side. "Henry, you can't blame yourself. She fooled all of us!"

"Yeah but because of me my son is now in there fighting for his life! And if he doesn't make it, I'll never forgive myself! Where is that no good piece of trash? I think I'll be paying her a little visit."

"She's in the morgue where she belongs," Lassie replied.

Shocked, Henry's mouth slightly dropped open. "What do you mean? Who killed her?"

The Chief smiled as she looked at Lassie, who smiled back at her. "It was a group effort," she said.

"Hey guys," Gus said, as he walked into the room.

A unananumous "Hey" was heard between everyone as he came in, looking just as distraught as Henry.

"So how are you doing, Mr. Guster?" the Chief asked.

"I'm fine. Just a concussion and some cuts and bruises, so I'll be alright. And Juliet's doing a lot better. You were right Henry, she just needed a blood transfusion and some fluids. And they gave her a little something to help her sleep, so her body could rest. With her being in and out of consciousness, I don't think she's had much of a chance to fully realize what's going on with Shawn. Speaking of, has there been any word yet?"

Henry sighed a quivering sigh and shook his head. "No. Nothing yet. Shawn's been in surgery for awhile now."

"Not anymore," said a voice coming from behind them.

They all turned and tensed up when they saw the doctor standing behind them. Feeling scared and relieved at the same time, Henry swallowed nervously and was the first to speak up.

"Is my son going to be alright, Doctor?"

Placing his hands on his hips, the doctor sighed. "Well your son had quite a bit of trauma done to his body. He did have some internal bleeding, however it wasn't so severe that we couldn't stop it. And he has three broken ribs, which will heal in time. Now as for his leg, he did have a nicked artery which we were able to repair as well. And whoever tied that tie around it, well, let's just say had it not been for that then he defiantly wouldn't have made it."

Without saying a word, everyone looked over in Lassie's direction, who looked down at his folded arms, slightly embarrassed by the attention.

"So is he going to be okay then?" Gus asked, with a hopeful tone in his voice.

The doctor nodded. "He's going to need quite a few blood transfusions, but he's receiving his first batch now while he's resting. He's going to be in the hospital for awhile, but as long as he rests and takes it easy then he's going to be just fine."

Fine…One of the words most taken for granted was now a word that was a precious gift to everyone. As they all sighed with relief, and hugged each other, the doctor smiled knowing that this was indeed one of the perks of his job.

"Can we see him, doctor?" Henry asked.

"Sure. But only one at a time. I'll take you to him," the doctor replied.

Henry nodded as he started to follow the doctor, when he suddenly stopped. "Uh hang on a second, doc."

He then turned and walked over to Lassie, shocking him and everyone else when he suddenly wrapped his arms around him.

"Uh, Henry? Is there a reason for this?" Lassie asked, confused.

Releasing from the hug he attacked him with, Henry nodded. "I just wanted to say thank you for saving my son's life."

"Uh, hey no problem. I was just doing what I had to do," Lassie replied, uncomfortably.

"Come on, Lassie. I know you and Shawn may have your differences, but you and I both know that you would have been just as devastated as the rest of us if he hadn't made it," Henry pointed out.

Lassie sighed. "Yeah well, it would be pretty boring at the station without him. And…I would miss him. But that doesn't get spread around, got it?"

Henry smiled. "Got it."

With a nod, Henry turned back around and followed the doctor, leaving Lassie to silently give a prayer of gratitude to the man upstairs, thankful that all of the people he cared about were going to make it through this horrible ordeal.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Beep…beep…beep…_

As Henry entered his son's room, he was relieved to hear the sound of his heart monitor, trying to erase the moment from earlier when he heard it doing the opposite.

As he slowly walked into the room, Henry looked down on him, glad that he was going to make it, but heartbroken at seeing his son so helpless. He pulled a chair up beside his bed, and rested his chin on his folded up hands as he stared at him. He didn't look nearly as pale as he did earlier, but he still didn't have all of the color back in his face. He had an oxygen tube up his nose, and bandages on his forehead and the left side of his face. He then looked up and saw the O positive blood run down a tube and into his arm and sighed. As happy as he was that he was going to make it, there's nothing a parent hates more than to see their child so broken and helpless.

A little while later, Henry was layed back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest, snoozing away, when a voice suddenly brought him out of his sleep.

"Dad?"

Rubbing his eyes, Henry sat up like a bolt and felt a sudden happiness like no other as he looked over at his son, who was staring back at him. "Hey, kid. Welcome back."


	19. Chapter 19

"Gus, quit being a chicken."

"I ain't a chicken; I just don't think Shawn would want me in here while you're doing this."

Juliet smiled as she watched Gus sit down with his eyes diverted to the wall. She then looked with great happiness at her healthy baby girl who was gently sucking away at her breast, a weird but wonderful feeling. After having so many thoughts of them not making it out of that building, she felt overjoyed to be where she was now.

"Gus if you're so uncomfortable then why don't you just go to Shawn's room?" she asked as she gently patted her daughters bottom.

"Cause he's sleeping and Henry's sleeping and they're both snoring like chainsaws," he replied.

Grinning, Juliet shook her head. That had to have been quite a sight. "Well why don't you take a nap yourself? You look like you haven't slept in days."

"That's because I haven't," Gus said, still looking up at the wall. "I'm afraid if I do then- uh, you know what, never mind."

"No, go ahead. What's on your mind?"

With a heavy sigh, Gus managed to look over at Juliet. "Well what we went through was one of the most traumatic things a person could go through and it just seemed hopeless the whole time we were in there, or at least it did to me anyway. And I don't know, I'm just afraid if I go to sleep that this was all a dream and that I'll be waking up right back in that building. I know it's silly, I just-"

Shaking her head Juliet interrupted. "No, it's not. You're right, we did go through a very traumatic experience. And it will take awhile for all of us to get through this, but trust me, we're safe. I promise you everything is going to be fine, Gus."

"Yeah true."

Squinting her eyes, she looked at him with confusion and worry. "The question is, are you going to be fine?"

Looking down at his hands, Gus slowly nodded. "I think so. I just can't stop thinking about almost losing you and Shawn. You guys are my best friends and I don't know what I'd do without you in my life."

"Gus, you weren't going to lose us. And you never will. We're both going to be fine."

Gus silently nodded. "I know."

"Look, how about when we both get out of here, you, me and Shawn all take a trip together? No worries, no stress, just some much deserved fun."

"But what about the baby?"

"Well, I'm sure Grandpa Henry won't mind watching her for a couple days," she replied as she gently gave her daughter a kiss on her forehead.

"Can I make a road trip CD?"

"Yes, provided Shawn doesn't help you. I don't think I want to spend the whole car ride listening to eighty's movie themes."

Gus smiled. Joking about Shawn. It was just seventy -two hours ago that something like that seemed so far out of reach. As much as Gus tried to have hope at that time he still had horrible thoughts racing through his mind, terrified that instead of being able to go do fun things with his best friend that he would be helping to plan his funeral. But now that was something in the past, and something he prayed to God that he would never have to think about again. Now he just smiled, more eager than a child at the thought of having a fun and care free trip with his two best friends and couldn't ask for anything more.

"Uh, so I'm gonna go make a food run cause frankly the food they serve in this place I wouldn't feed to my worst enemy," Gus stated. "So can I get you anything? A pizza maybe?"

"Very funny. I don't care if I ever have pizza again. Just grab me a chicken ceaser salad," Juliet replied with a half grin on her face.

"Will do! I'll be back in a bit," Gus said walking out the door.

Juliet sighed with happiness as she looked down at her beautiful daughter, who had now fallen asleep in her arms. "We'll be waiting…"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Her face… Her unforgettable face… Why was she there? Why was she taunting them? _

"_EVERYBODY OUT!"_

_Running…His heart pounding…Jules! Grab Jules! His hand was reached out towards her and with a look of worry she looked back at him and then…things flying everywhere, a rumbling beneath his feet and him falling as the floor opened up beneath him…._

Like a jolt, Shawn's eyes flickered open as he tried to catch his breath. The heart monitor next to him started beeping at a faster rate, prompting a sleeping Henry to suddenly wake up and rush over to his son's side.

"Shawn! Calm down, son. What's wrong?!"

Trying to catch his breath, Shawn placed his hand on his forehead and layed his head back down. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"What's going on in here?" a nurse asked suddenly bursting into the room.

"Nothing. I just had a bad dream that's all. I'm fine. See, I'm calming down," Shawn replied, taking a few deep breaths.

"Maybe I should get you something to help you relax," the nurse said.

Grabbing her arm, Shawn suddenly lifted his head and looked directly at her. "No! I don't need anything else. I think you guys have drugged me enough."

Shocked, Henry looked as the nurse got a startled look on her face. Realzing he stepped over the line, Shawn slowly removed his grip from the nurse's arm and layed back down. "I'm sorry. But I'm fine. Really."

The nurse nodded, still a bit in shock. "Okay. Well I'll be in to check on you later, Mr. Spencer."

With that, she quickly exited the room, leaving a concerned Henry to try and figure out what exactly had just happened.

"You okay?" he asked, standing by Shawn's bedside.

Looking straight up at the ceiling, Shawn pressed his lips together as if he was holding something back, and replied. "Yup. Couldn't be better."

Not buying it for a minute, Henry sighed. "Really? You could've fooled me."

"Dad, I don't really feel like talking right now, so just drop it."

"Oh okay. Fine. Then I'll talk. You wanna know what I think? I think that you blame yourself for what happened. Am I right?"

"Dad, I said to drop it."

"Yeah I know what you said. And I also don't understand why on God's green earth you would possibly think that you were responsible for something like this."

Rolling his eyes, Shawn suddenly turned to face his father, anger building up inside him. "You wanna know why I blame myself?! Fine! Maybe because I should've seen it! I saw Detective Stone at her desk earlier that day with blood shot eyes that obviously came from crying, and an article about her father being killed. I knew then that something wasn't right but I just ignored it because I wanted to focus on my wife and helping her! I should've done something and because I didn't, everyone I care most about were almost killed! I should've done something…"

Stumbling on his last words, Shawn then buried his face into his hands, letting the frustrating tears he had been holding fall freely down his face. Without thinking, Henry sat on the bed beside him and wrapped his arm around shoulders, thus allowing Shawn to burry his head into his father's chest sobbing silently, which made Henry's heart break into a million pieces.

"Listen to me, kid. Sometimes these things happen. Whether you had followed your feelings or not, she was determined to get back at us for what happened to her father, and she would've made sure that her plan carried out even if she was in prison. People like her have people on the outside trust me. So either way you couldn't have prevented this. And this was _not _your fault. I could easily say that this whole thing was my fault too, for not realizing who was doing all of this the past few months, but that isn't going to help either one of us. This was just an unfortunate thing that happened and there's no point in either of us blaming ourselves for it, you understand me?"

"I totally agree."

Startled, Henry and Shawn turned their heads towards the door, only to see a smiling Juliet sitting in a wheelchair while she held their baby girl in her arms.

Wiping the tears from his face, Shawn smiled. He couldn't have asked for a more beautiful wife and child if he tried. "Hey you," he replied as he grinned.

"Hey yourself," Juliet replied with just as equally big of smile. "You okay?"

Wiping his eyes, Shawn nodded. "Yeah, just a bit of an unexpected emotional breakdown. I'm done now, I promise."

Grinning, Juliet nodded. "Well I have something that will cheer you up. Somebody wanted to see their daddy."

Very slowly, Juliet got out of her wheelchair and carefully made her way over to her husband's bedside. Without saying a word, she gently placed her in Shawn's arms, who looked down at his daughter with pure joy.

Feeling overwhelmed with happiness, Shawn stared into his daughter's bright blue eyes which were looking directly into his. He couldn't believe how much he loved her, and vowed right then and there that he would always be there to protect her and help her the way a good father would do. And even though he had his moments with his own father, he hoped that he would still be just as good as father as he was.

Henry grinned as he looked at the scene before him. Shawn holding his daughter, and Juliet sitting beside him, her head next to his as they looked at their baby. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and was glad that while it seemed so hopeless just a few days ago, that now the three of them were going to be able to be the family they wanted to be.

"Hey, you guys up for visitors?" Chief Vick asked, peeking her head through the door.

"Absolutely, Chief," Shawn replied.

The Chief smiled as she walked in, Lassie following behind.

"Aw did you have to bring him? Maybe I should have the nurse give me those drugs after all," Shawn replied.

"Hey! Is that the thanks I get for saving your life, Spencer?" Lassie said.

"Relax, Lassie I'm just messing with you. And about that…thanks for all the help you gave me when we were in there. I wouldn't have made it out of there if it weren't for you and for that I'll always be grateful for."

A bit taken aback, Lassie cleared his throat and nodded. "You're welcome."

For a moment no one said anything as Shawn and Lassie both uncomfortably smiled at one another. After a moment, the Chief broke the silence with a happy tone in her voice.

"So," she said putting her hands together. "I have some good news. Not only is Detective Stone good and dead, but her boyfriend is locked away as well and our station is getting a commendation by the mayor for getting the people who have caused havoc on Santa Barbara for the past few months."

"That's great Chief!" Juliet replied happily.

"That is great. Isn't it son?" Henry said, placing a hand on Shawn's shoulder.

Realizing his dad was right about how foolish he was for thinking the way he was, Shawn nodded. "Yeah. It sure is."

"Food delivery!" Gus said, suddenly bursting into the room.

"It's about time, man. I'm starving over here," Shawn said.

"Well I had to go to three different places to get the food, Shawn so excuse me," Gus said as he sat the bags of food down on the bed.

"No, you're not excused," Shawn replied. "Not unless you got me something good."

"Ladies first, Shawn! Here is your salad, Juliet."

Juliet quickly grabbed the plastic container from Gus's hands. "Thank God, I'm about on empty over here!"

"Man, you two were made for each other," Gus replied looking at Shawn and Juliet.

"I know," a grinning Juliet agreed, soon leaning down and giving her husband a kiss.

"Oh maaaan, did I ever miss that," Shawn said as they slowly parted from each other.

"Just hurry up with the food before I lose my appetite, Guster," Lassie replied.

Gus then handed out the rest of the food, leaving Shawn for last. Confused, Shawn looked at him and lifted his head up suddenly.

"Dude, where's mine? Man, I will kill you if you forgot my food."

"Just relax, Shawn, I wanted to save the best for last," he replied, slowly taking a bag out and handing it to him.

Like an eager kid, Shawn quickly grabbed the bag and looked inside, suddenly looking up at Gus with a smile. "Gus! You remembered!" he said as he then took out a greasy cheeseburger and a taco from the bag.

"I sure did," Gus responded happily.

Setting the food aside, he held out his arm that wasn't cradling the baby. "Man, come here."

Eagerly, Gus made his way over to his best friend and they tightly embraced each other, both of them glad to have not lost one another.

A chorus of 'Aws' soon followed, prompting Shawn and Gus to quickly break apart from each other, both slightly red in the face.

"So, have we come up with a name for the baby yet?" the Chief asked as she took a bite of her turkey sandwich.

Juliet and Shawn looked at each other, Juliet soon smiling in response. "Well, I have thought of one. How about Natalie Joy? I've always loved the name Natalie and she's certainly our little bundle of joy."

Shawn smiled as he looked up at his wife. "I love that name."

"It's beautiful," the Chief agreed, along with everyone else.

Shawn then looked down at his baby girl who was now asleep, and gently stroked her head with his fingers. "Hello, Natalie Joy Spencer. Welcome to the world…"

…**Stay tuned for the final chapter! It'll be posted soon! :-)**


	20. Chapter 20

**I just want to give everyone a huge thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! Now I will be taking a bit of a break from doing another Psych story for a bit, as I'm currently writing a fic for my other favorite show, (though not as much of a favorite as Psych of course;)), CSI: NY, and it's hard to keep up with two fics at once with my busy life, so I gotta do one at a time lol. But hey, if you watch that show feel free to come read it! And don't worry I'll have another Psych one either towards the end of this month or beginning of next month, I promise! So I'll go ahead and finish my rambling now lol, and I hope you enjoy this last chapter my fellow Psych-Os!:-)**

"Now she's usually fed every three hours, unless of course she's asleep, then just feed her after she wakes up. I left you my breast milk in individual bags in the freezer; when it's time for her to eat just thaw one out in a bowl of warm water. Also there's some cream in the diaper bag because she has a bit of a rash on her bottom, so just put a little bit of that on her whenever you change her. And here's her stuffed puppy that she loves to sleep with. Also-"

"Honey, as hard as it may be to believe cause I barley believe it myself, my dad knows how to take care of a baby," Shawn replied, trying to pull her towards the door.

"Shawn, I know that, but she has some very specific things he needs to know about," Juliet stated.

"Well of course I understand," Henry agreed. "Like the freezing and thawing the breast milk thing, something I never would've known about. I mean when you were born, you're mother never did that. She just whipped them out whenever you-"

Holding his hand up, Shawn interrupted. "Dad, really, really don't want to hear about mom's- ugh never mind I can't even say it. Just purely disturbing."

Juliet just smiled as she looked at her husband, and then back down at her daughter who was cradled in her arms. It had now been four months since the explosion, and everyone was back to normal, both physically and emotionally. While the experience they had gone through of course would always be something they wouldn't be able to forget, they made it a promise to put it behind them, for now was the time to be enjoying and living their lives to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow could always have a chance of being their last.

"Man, what's the hold up? I wanna get going before it gets dark," Gus said walking into Henry's house.

"Dude, your not even driving, what does it matter?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah but you are, and I don't think I need to remind you of the time when you were driving in the dark and you turned down a one way and we almost got creamed by an ice cream truck!"

"Man, that was not my fault. The one way sign was behind a tree," Shawn argued.

"I see, so you didn't think anything was wrong when you saw the cars coming at us?"

"Gus, I'm done arguing about this. Now go strap yourself into your booster seat like a good boy and wait for us."

"SUCK IT, Shawn!"

"No you SUCK IT!"

Juliet and Henry then watched in annoyance as the two best friends started slapping each other like girls, soon chasing after one another out of the house.

"I'm about this close to telling people that I was artificially inseminated," Juliet told Henry, as she held up her finger and thumb an inch apart from each other.

"I was actually about ready to ask you that myself," Henry replied.

Smiling and shaking her head, Juliet looked down at Natalie and gave her a kiss on her small but perfect forehead. "Okay well mommy and daddy are gonna go now, and you're gonna have all kinds of fun with grandpa."

"Absolutely. I have everything planned out for us," Henry said, taking her from Juliet.

"She's not watching the Cops marathon with you," Juliet stated firmly.

"Oh come on give me a little more credit. We're going to watch some Sesame Street and go for a walk along the beach aren't we?" he replied, looking down at his granddaughter.

"Alright. Just make sure she has sun block on if you do that. It's in the-"

"Diaper bag, I know. Just go already. Go have fun. You three deserve it. And don't worry about her, she'll be fine trust me. I have the Chief's number on the fridge in case I need any help, and I'll have my cell phone on me at all times, okay?"

Hesitantly, Juliet looked down at her baby once more and nodded with a smile. "Okay. You're right. I'm sorry. Bye sweetie, mommy loves you."

She then gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, and walked towards the door. "Thank you for doing this, Henry."

"It's my pleasure. Have a good trip."

She nodded and walked down the stairs of the front porch, soon groaning when she saw her husband and Gus rolling around on the ground like a pair of grown children.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go," she replied walking towards the car. "And I was thinking we could stop somewhere and get some hamburgers and curly fries. But you know, whatever."

With that being said, Shawn and Gus both popped their heads up, soon sprinting towards the car, and making their way inside.

"Thought that might do it," Juliet said, leaning back in the passenger's seat. "Now let's go."

"Wait, first thing's first, we need to put on a little road music," Shawn pointed out.

"The CD I made is already in there, just press play," Gus replied.

As he pulled out of his dad's driveway and started heading down the road, Shawn's finger slid over to the play button. Soon after he pushed it, the car filled with the sound of the 'Weird Science' theme.

"Gus! I thought we had a deal!" Juliet said.

"This ain't mine! I made something else!"

Shawn grinned. "I know. I took it and rerecorded my own songs on there."

"I'm gonna kill you, Shawn!"

"Gus don't be such a buzz kill. This is good music!"

"I tend to disagree," Juliet chimed in.

"Jules! Come on, these are the movies I'm going to educate our daughter in."

"Yeah good luck with that one," she replied, putting on her sunglasses and leaning her head back on her seat.

"I don't need luck, she has my DNA in her, so I know she'll love them as much as I do."

"Fine, but like I said, I'm still teaching her how to tap dance," Gus said.

"And I told you no!"

"Well I say yes, and you're not her only parent so suck it again!"

Juliet sighed as she listened to them arguing back and forth with each other. As she felt the warm sun caress her face, she tuned them out, feeling nothing but happiness as they continued on their journey. This was the life she always dreamed of, and no one was ever going to get the chance to try and take it away from her again. No one.

The End


End file.
